Journey Back In Time
by princess lullaby
Summary: What's the Uchiha massacre? How did Mom and Dad fall in love? ..Who's Itachi? When curiosity gets the best of the Uchiha heiress, she's presented with an opportunity to travel back in time to meet her parent's younger selves- only to discover that Sasuke and Sakura had been keeping a lot from her. What will Sarada do with new knowledge of her family's secrets?
1. Entering Time

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

With reference to my other fics, this story can be thought of as taking place after " **Soon is Now** ".

 **Disclaimer:** This story is written based purely on my interpretations and the concepts within the anime, movies, and novels. Sarada will be travelling through various _time-points_ within the story, so she will  not be in the same place the whole time. Please don't read if you don't like what's happening. Also contains some SasuSaku.

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

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 **Journey Back In Time**

Ch.1: Entering Time

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"Welcome home, dad!"

The Uchiha heiress jumped to her feet once she detected the presence of her father at the front door. She dropped the book in her hands and raced towards the raven-haired man who had just managed to step inside his home, giving him a strong hug at the waist.

Sasuke recoiled back a little from the strength of her greeting, but displayed a small grin at the corner of his lips to acknowledge his daughter. "Sarada."

Just then, a pink blob poked through the corner of an open doorway down the hall at the sound of the commotion. "Welcome back, Anata!" Sakura greeted her husband with a benevolent smile before disappearing back into the kitchen. A wave of a strong smell broke through the house, and as he placed his bag down onto the couch, he knew he had made it back just in time for dinner.

It wasn't long before almost the entire table was covered with dishes from left to right. Sakura made sure to make all of Sasuke's favourite foods, most of which included several variations of tomato dishes. After all, it's not everyday he'd actually be home to have a nice meal as a family.

The three of them pulled their respective chairs out and gathered in their seats. Sarada lagged behind, but eventually settled into her spot beside the Uchiha patriarch, giving him a mischievous smile as she plopped onto the hard wooden seat. Sasuke stared at his daughter from the corner of his eyes in suspicion.

She had grown.

Her hair was a much longer length than before, reaching midway of her chest. Her bangs became longer too, but she kept it away from her face by tucking it into her ear. She had only grown a little bit in height, though.

Suddenly, Sarada leaned into her father's ear and cupped the side of her mouth in a whisper.

"Don't worry, no strange men came into our house lately looking for mom."

"What?" Sakura raised an eyebrow in confusion as she reached over the table and placed side plates beside the two of them.

"Nothing!" The Uchiha heiress displayed a wide grin, quickly grabbing her chopsticks to begin her meal. The pink-haired girl eyed her husband suspiciously as he shifted in his seat and nervously cleared his throat with a cough.

The family ate in silence for a few moments, but it was a good type of silence. A warm atmosphere surrounded them knowing that once again, everybody was under the same roof. Even though Sasuke would leave for long periods of time, he was definitely home more frequently, especially after the whole incident with Sarada accusing him of constantly being absent.

"So how did your mission go, Anata?" Sakura inquired after swallowing a piece of stir-fried chicken, breaking the silent air.

"Fine." The raven-haired man announced. Over the last few years, he had gone on intermittent journeys investigating Kaguya and the creation of the White Zetsu Army with the goal of further unravelling her history. "However, the scroll I found in the icy world has yet to be deciphered."

Sarada began following her parent's conversation, her eyes darting from her mother to her father and vice versa as they continued to speak.

".. Do you think the Akatsuki knew about it?" Sakura whispered, her eyes narrowing.

"Maybe." He took a pause from his last bite. "There's theories. They may or have may not known, but Itachi never said anything."

"Who's Itachi?"

Shit. The couple froze in the middle of chewing, forgetting that they had been discussing taboo topics in front of their daughter.

It wasn't that they didn't want to tell her about Itachi- about the massacre of the entire Uchiha clan. They knew she had to know at some point. It's just they weren't sure how to go about doing it, and most of all, it was uncertain as to how she would take it.

There was no way they were ready to have this kind of conversation with her right this second. How could they have let themselves slip like that?

Sakura glanced over at her husband, who was already giving her a telepathic stare to salvage the situation. She gulped the lump down her throat before she began to speak. "Just a Shinobi from the war, Sarada."

"Oh..." The Uchiha heiress' voice disappeared, but it wasn't long before it soon found excitement again. "Okay, tell me how you met eachother, then! I want to know every detail. What were your Genin and Jounin days like?"

"W-Well," Sakura looked at her husband again, almost like a cry for help. However, judging from the apathetic look on his face, it seemed like he was planning on leaving her out to dry. So, she clicked her tongue in annoyance and gazed back at her daughter, resuming a painful smile on her face.

"Your father and I were on the same team with Boruto's father." Her expression started to wander as she reminisced the times long ago before their marriage. "Our team didn't get along very well. But eventually we became closer, especially after our first mission at the Land of Waves."

"Heh.." Sarada chuckled slyly, "So, is that when you fell in love with dad?"

Almost instantaneously, Sakura felt her face become tinged with vermillion. "No.. I've loved him long before that."

Their daughter continued to grin in amusement. The girl with the red glasses turned towards her father this time, who had just been sitting in silence trying to finish his meal. "What about you, dad? When did you fall in love with mom?"

At this, a wave of silence broke out at the table. All eyes were on the Uchiha patriarch for an answer, and to be honest, Sakura was curious to know as well.

The onyx-eyed man eventually made eye contact with his daughter's excited face. He knew he had to amuse her somehow or she'd never put it to rest.

"When she confessed to me during the war."

"Serious?!" Sarada squealed and nearly spat the foot out of her mouth, earning a look of disgust from her mother. "That sounds so romantic, how come no ones ever told me that before?!"

Sakura stared at her husband in awe, but mostly with suspicion. She could tell he was refusing to make eye contact with her. _Really?_

"Tell me more." Sarada started again, "Do I have any cousins? Grandmas? Great-Grandmamas? Where are they?"

The pink-haired girl forced another smile. "You've met them awhile back, Sarada. They'll be coming to visit next-"

"I know, but what about Dad's side?"

It seemed like tonight was about jumping hurdles for Sasuke and Sakura. The two of them shifted in their seats uncomfortably and looked elsewhere. At this rate, even a newborn could tell that the two of them were hiding something.

At this, Sarada's brows furrowed. ".. Are there any other Uchihas besides dad, even?"

"Sarada." Sasuke said her name firmly, placing his empty bowl of rice down on the table in assertion. "You don't need to be concerned about this right now."

The Uchiha heiress clenched her hand, beginning to feel her anger rise. "What is that supposed to mean? Am I not entitled to know who my family is?"

"Your family is _right here_." The Uchiha patriarch rebutted in a sharp tone, causing his daughter to flinch back a little. Sakura felt her heart beginning to pound faster, knowing things weren't going in a good direction.

"That's not what I meant, dad." She whispered in a disappointed tone, her eyes becoming sullen and filled with remorse. "You two are always keeping secrets from me."

In a swift motion, Sarada pushed her chair back and stood up, shooting her parents a betrayed expression.

"This family is still fucked up as always."

"Sarada.." Sakura watched as her daughter turned and darted towards the door, making a quick exit before her parents could say anything else.

The couple sat in the lingering silence for a few seconds before Sakura decided to speak.

"Sarada's grown a lot since the last time." She stated in a defeated voice, "But it's still too soon."

"Of course it is." He agreed nonchalantly. He wasn't planning on having her know anytime soon, and neither of them knew when it would ever be a good time. She was still young, and with this kind of information.. Well, it was enough to go rogue. And he definitely isn't ready to see the possibility of his daughter live a repeat of his own life.

"She doesn't even know that you were absent for a long time before you came back to the Leaf." Sakura's eyes turned melancholic as she blankly stared down at the table. "I don't know what she would do if we poured all of this onto her. Everything would just be too much."

He remembered the time he had to tell his wife about all of it- the truth about Itachi and why he did what he did to the clan. Not many people in the village knew about it, even to this day. It wasn't something that would be intended for as light gossip.

"Sasuke." Sakura began again, remembering what her husband had said to their daughter. "Did you really fall in love with me at that time?"

The onyx-eyed man stared at his wife, at first wondering what she meant. But after a few seconds, he knew, and he eventually closed his eyes in defeat.

"I don't remember."

"Why did you lie?"

"Well," He started, pausing before he continued.

"I just knew I had feelings because it hurt to leave you on the bench that night."

The pink-haired girl nodded slowly in understanding. She was a bit touched as she realized how long ago that was, and that she had absolutely no idea about it.

It then became clear as to why he couldn't say that to Sarada.

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"I hate them."

The Uchiha heiress cursed to herself as she stormed down the streets of the Leaf Village. She remembered the last time she felt this way, when she first met her father and was skeptical of who her mother was. Like that time, her family always snuck around when it came to family matters. This time it was no different.

She wasn't stupid. She knew there was obviously more to what they had actually told her, which in the first place wasn't very much at all.

"Fine. If they're not going to tell me, I'll just have to figure it out on my own." Sarada declared to herself in an overly confident tone. She managed to satisfy her curiosity the last time she took things into her own hands, and this time, she was sure she'd succeed as well.

Just.. How was she going to do it?

"Sarada-chan!"

The Uchiha heiress turned around to meet the voice of a tall blonde man that made his way towards her from afar. It was no one other than the Hokage and her parents' best friend.

"Sarada-chan, what're you doing out here alone when it's so dark out?" The blue-eyed boy inquired as he came to a stop in front of her. Contrary to popular belief, he had just managed finished most of his Hokage duties (early, at that) and decided to take a night stroll before heading home.

"Uncle Naruto." Sarada greeted him in a melancholic tone. Her expression was unable to hide a sullen look, which Naruto had no trouble detecting.

"What's wrong?" He asked, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity. "Where's Sasuke and Sakura?"

Sarada grunted at the troubling thought of her secret-keeping parents. "At home. Where I don't want to be at the moment."

"What happened, Sarada-chan?"

She didn't respond, but instead turned her gaze to the side. Naruto stared at her for a few seconds in an attempt to read the situation, but sighed when he couldn't come up with anything.

"Alright. Do you want to take a walk?"

At this, the Uchiha heiress nodded.

As he had suggested, the two of them made their way around the corner of the street and started down a new path of stores. Although it was getting quite late, the Leaf Village remained as lively as ever. People were still busy roaming about, the chattering voices of the civilians filling up the silence between the two of them. The Hokage still had no idea how to get his best friends' daughter to talk to him.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, Sarada-chan?" He inquired again. Leave it to his persistent nature to figure things out this way.

Sarada hesitated for a moment, but in the end let out a long sigh. "You're not going to tell me anything because Mom and Dad are your best friends."

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed, his expression looking like she had just said the most absurd thing in the entire world. "Those two are always off without me! I can be best friends with you, Sarada-chan!"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. For a Hokage, Naruto was still a pretty lame person.

At the same time, she knew if anyone was going to help her, it had to be him. There's no doubt he definitely knew what she didn't.

I mean, I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask.

The Uchiha heiress stopped in her tracks, earning an eyebrow raise from the confused blonde. Her eyes displayed all seriousness. "Promise me you won't tell them I asked you?"

"Sure, Sarada-chan!"

"Okay then. Who are my relatives?"

Naruto paused, blinking once before giving a toothy grin. "Well, there's Mebuki and Kizashi, Chie-obaa-san-"

"I'm not talking about my mom's parents." Sarada interrupted in a stern voice, maintaining the determined look on her face. "What I'm trying to ask is, where are all the other Uchihas? Who's Itachi?"

At this, the smile on the blue-eyed boy faded just as fast as it had appeared. Sarada took note of this reaction and scowled. It was just as she had expected. In the end, even Naruto kept secrets from her.

"I need you to tell me, Uncle Naruto." She urged, refusing to give up right here. "I have to know."

"It's not really my place to tell you, Sarada." The Hokage scratched the back of his head nervously, stumped as to how he should go about this situation.

"So there _is_ something terribly wrong about it, then?"

"Uh..."

She watched as his face began to tense, his eyes looking in all sorts of directions. She then felt her heart drop deeper the more he continued to hesitate. His silence had already confirmed her question.

Taking a large gulp, though, she started again.

"Your father is Minato-san, right?"

Naruto's eyes reverted back to the tiny girl in front of him, and he adopted a confused look on his face before giving a small nod of affirmation.

"You were alone most of your life." She continued, speaking flatly. "And I'm sure you wanted to know where your family was too. Mine is here, but right now I feel just as lost as you might have been."

The blonde-haired boy narrowed his eyes, remembering the days where he had no recollection of anybody considered as family. If he was back in those shoes, just like how Sarada borderline is right now, he would definitely be asking the same questions as her.

"You wanted to know answers too, right?" Sarada continued, and he saw the fire burning in her eyes as he noted his own reflection inside her obsidian orbs. "If it really is as bad as I think it is right now.. then this isn't going to be something I can on without ever knowing."

Even so, he couldn't reveal everything to her right here, right now. And especially not without the consent of Sasuke and Sakura.

Hell, they should be the ones dealing with this. But Sarada had a point herself. If he couldn't tell her the truth himself, there had to be something he could do for her, for her to know how prestigious the Uchiha clan was.

"I'll take you somewhere, Sarada-chan."

The Uchiha heiress nodded, eager at this sudden revelation, and followed the Hokage closely behind his walk as he turned around with the swoosh of his cape.

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The storehouse they entered was cold and dirty, racked up with thousands and thousands of old books and ancient scrolls. The light Naruto turned on barely came to their rescue as it was rather dim and continued to flicker like crazy.

However, somewhere in this mess was information about her family, Sarada thought.

"What're you going to show me, Uncle Naruto?" She questioned as she followed the Hokage through a tightly squeezed aisle of books, trying her best to ignore the eight-legged insects crawling over the shelves.

"I'll let you read about the Uchiha clan. It should help answer some of your questions." Naruto said aloud before finishing the rest of his sentence in his head. _Although since you're this curious already, you'll have to ask your parents about the rest._

"Fine." Sarada cooperated, although a bit unsatisfied.

The two of them continued to scramble along the messy book of aisles, even though there was quite a bit of doubt in the Uchiha heiress' mind that Naruto knew exactly where he was going.

"It's somewhere around here.." He said, stopping abruptly with his eyes squinting in an attempt to scan several book titles at once.

Sarada awkwardly waited from behind for a few minutes, then sighed. "I'll look on the other side, Uncle Naruto."

The Hokage gave her a nod without making eye contact before waving her off. She proceeded to walk in the opposite direction as the two of them then became separated.

The Uchiha paced herself slowly amidst the dark path she chose to go through. The light failed to reach this side of the room, only allowing a small fraction of its help in guiding her way. It was beginning to creep her out.

"Ouch!" Sarada winced as her foot harshly came in contact with a solid object on the floor. People ought to learn how to put their things back, especially in a crowded and claustrophobic place like this.

She bent down and squinted her eyes in an attempt to adjust to the dim light. She pulled the unknown item closer and brushed off its dusty surface.

It was a box. It had no label or anything. It was grey and tattered, the canvas covering of the wood beginning to tear at the corners.

Skeptical of its contents, she lifted the lid and peered inside.

Inside, sitting on top of a stack of thick, heavy books was a scroll. Sarada cocked her head to the site in curiosity and proceeded to reach inside to take the item out.

 _Jikan o nyūryoku._

"It says 'Entering Time'." She read to herself aloud the little label on the front of the scroll. _Whatever that means._

Automatically, her hand reached out and slowly began to uncover its contents in which contained small scribbled writing on the surface.

 _Upon usage of this technique, the user must not:_

 _1\. Try to prevent any past decisions._

 _2\. Attempt to rewrite history._

 _3\. Save others when their death is near._

 _4\. Engage in a battle that results in the death of another._

 _5\. Return to a place they themselves were present before._

 _6\. Reveal their future identity to anyone of the past._

 _7\. Get themselves killed._

 _If all of the above is fulfilled and the user subsequently transports into a different point in time, all that was done in the previous time-point will be forgotten by those who occupy it._

 _However, in the event that one of these rules are broken, the user will have significantly altered the future, and may not return back to their current time._

Sarada blinked after slowly finishing the last sentence, still trying to process the information. What the heck was this thing? All of these rules...they're-

"This... don't tell me I can travel back in time with this?" The Uchiha heiress whispered out loud, then proceeded to peer around herself in attempt to look for the sight of a tall blonde. She wondered if it was necessary to show this to Uncle Naruto. Maybe he would know something about it.

That or.. This was the perfect opportunity to have all of her questions answered.

She took a long, hard gulp before reverting her gaze back to the new discovery in her hands. A million thoughts raced inside her mind, every single possibility if something were to ever go wrong with this sketchy thing that could supposedly go back in time..

No.

With this, it was possible to find out everything that happened to her mom and dad in the past without them ever knowing. If no one was going to say anything to her, she'll just have to see it herself.

 _I'm doing it._

And with that, Sarada gave herself a strong, encouraging nod before gulping once more in nervousness.

Slowly, she began to uncover the rest of the scroll, past the small scribbled writing. She could see half of a black swirl being shown, with a red marking in the middle.

Clutching the paper tighter, she closed her eyes.

 _One.._

 _Two.._

She didn't even make it to three before her arm executed a single strong pull, a large wind beginning to take place when the rest of the scroll was revealed.

"W-What is-"

Suddenly, she could feel her body being pulled towards the ominous red circle in the middle of the scroll. As hard as she tried to resist, it was awfully strong, as if a huge enigma was grabbing all of her limbs at once.

Her heart started to pound faster and faster, and for a split second she regretted doing what she just did.

But it was too late to turn back. She made a commitment, and she was going to see through to it.

Sarada opened one of her eyes and held her hands up to block her face from the angry, alluring wind. She took one big breath before releasing the last of her strength and succumbing to the energetic force as it sucked her in.

This was it.

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"Sarada-chan?"

...

"..SARADA-CHAAN!"

The blonde rushed through each of the aisles of the dark storage room, panting as he desperately looked for his best friends' daughter.

A few seconds ago, he felt a strong force rising inside the room and he knew that something was wrong. Where did she go?

 _Hopefully nothing terrible had happened to her._ He'd hate to have to tell Sasuke and Sakura about this. Naruto shuddered at the thought of his pink-haired friend beating him to a pulp.

His path came to a stop when he felt his foot stepping on a foreign object. He halted his breath and looked down, moving to the side as his foot uncovered an open scroll.

With a bad feeling welling up in his chest, he bent down and picked it up.

"Jikan o nyūryoku.."His eyes quickly gave the contents a scan, only to leave himself wide-eyed after seeing the open seal.

Well, shit.

He had a lot more to explain to his friends than he'd thought.


	2. Interlude: White Space

The gravity inside this space was strong.

Sarada continued to feel all of her limbs being tugged at once, almost as if the wind was battling for each part of her. She couldn't make out where or what was happening at the moment because she hadn't opened her eyes yet. Not that she could, really. The enigma was so powerful that she was afraid if she opened her eyes, they would probably start bleeding.

 _I'm going to be so, so dead when I get back to Konoha._ The Uchiha thought, even though she could literally feel her blood boiling from excitement in this sudden revelation she's gotten herself in.

This was happening. All of her questions were finally going to have some answers, not to mention the fact that exploring the past Konoha would be oh so very intriguing.

 _Maybe I'll be able to find out some super secret information about dad and mom and I can go back to make fun of them later._ The Uchiha managed a grin in amidst of the strong wind, chuckling at the thought of finally being able to hold something hilarious against her parents.

Her moment of amusement suddenly became interrupted by the quieting of the wind, and she could no longer feel the forces pulling at her. After cautiously opening an eye, her gaze darted to the ground to realize that she wasn't even on the ground.

To her surprise, her body was floating mid-air in nothing but white space, almost like a blank canvas. For some reason, she also noticed she was no longer in her red ninja shirt, but rather a black short sleeved top instead.

Oh. It must be because her old clothes had the Uchiha fan embedded on the back. That definitely would've caused some problems going into the past.

Regardless, at this point, she was rather confused on what to do next.

She tried moving herself out of her stagnant spot, to float somewhere else, but it didn't seem like she was going anywhere. Or rather, it was impossible to tell if she was even moving because everything around her was just... white nothingness.

 _Okay._ Sarada reassured herself, although she was still unsure of her actions.

Just as she was lost in confusion, she felt another force beginning to grab hold of her. This time, it was just on her legs. She gasped as it continued to tug her feet harder and harder, until she felt herself having the need to reach up to grab at absolutely nothing.

In a split second, it felt like she was drowning. Falling. As if she was being pulled down to the depths of the earth. It wasn't long before she stopped fighting the force and gave up her strength.

And in an instant, she was out cold.


	3. Rewind I: Enter - Sarada Uchiha!

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: After arguing with her parents over her family history, Sarada takes matters into her own hands and uses a time-travelling device to discover the truth on her own.

A/N: Much thanks to my new readers! I have to do bit more story planning for the next few chapters, so it might take longer than usual.

* guest: Thank you for pointing out the remodeling of the town! To be honest, I'm not sure if it was remodeled, so I just went for pretty-much-looked-the-same but slightly different as well. ^^'

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

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 **Journey Back In Time**

Rewind I: Enter - Sarada Uchiha!

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I swear to god, if that has to happen every time...

Oh

 _Oh._

After opening her eyes, the Uchiha let out a little gasp when she realized she was standing right in the middle of an awfully familiar place.

It was a hot summer day and the streets of Konoha were packed as always. As she stood in awe, she watched as the store-owners gathered and roamed about, organizing their goods and interacting with the customers. The smell of fresh ramen and red bean taiyaki wafted itself through her nose and she took a brief moment to take in the wonderful scent that reminded her of the future Konoha that she lived in.

Her gaze was set on the moving people around her. Before she began to walk, she noticed something stabbing against her side when she took a step forward.

Looking down and reaching inside of the pocket of her pants, she grabbed hold of a tiny, small miniature scroll, similar to the one she had opened back in the storage room. Inside her pockets was also a bracelet-type of device, although it was very thin but thick on one side and seemed like a normal piece of jewelry.

It kind of reminded her of the time where Boruto got in trouble for using some kind of scientific device in the Chuunin exams.

The ninja weapons team in Konoha must have something to do with the development of the time travel technique. The bracelet and tiny scroll must be how she could change in between time-points.

Ah. She'll figure it out later. Sarada shoved the small scroll back into her pocket and quickly slipped on the small metal bracelet and began to walk, allured by the liveliness of her hometown.

It was to her understanding that after the fourth great ninja war, the Leaf Village had been rebuilt due to the severe repercussions. But she was surprised as to how much of it remained exactly the same as before. A few of the building designs have changed, and some of the shops have been shifted around. Nevertheless, it still had the usual Konoha vibe.

The Uchiha continued to pace herself around her town, smiling and giggling at the individual interactions she witnessed between the citizens.

She was about to make her way around the corner when all of a sudden, her forehead smacked right against someone else's. They impacted hard against eachother at the corner of the street, resulting in a heavy recoil.

It felt like she had just been hit by a boulder. "Hey!" Sarada yells, clutching her forehead in pain from the power of the contact. "What's with you!?"

"Ouch...Sorry Sorry! I'm on a very important mission right now."

Huh. This voice seemed rather familiar. The Uchiha slowly opened one of her eyes and recognizes a familiar blue-eyed face with blonde hair, wearing an orange jumpsuit. It was basically a mini version of Uncle Naruto.

A grin crept up on her face as she watched him shift his eyes from side to side suspiciously, as if he was searching for somebody.

"Naruto!" She exclaimed, greeting her Uncle- er, younger version of her Uncle in excitement.

"Eh?" Naruto was caught by surprise. He stared at Sarada suspiciously, leaning into her with narrowed eyes. "How do you know my name?"

"Um.." Sarada hesitated, shifting her gaze in panic. "I've heard your name around."

Almost immediately, Naruto's expression turned prideful. "Ehehe, no wonder! It's because I'm the greatest ninja of the Leaf Village and also the future Hokage!"

 _You are, Uncle Naruto. Ditzy, but an amazing Hokage._ Sarada smiles at him.

"Hey Hey, where are you from?" The blonde inquires, looking her up and down in hopes to find a clue about her origins. "And what's your name?"

"Erm.." She thought about making up a fake name at first, but decided it was fine as long as they didn't know who she really was.

"I'm Sarada."

"Nice to meet you Sarada-chan!" Naruto grins. "But I can't chat with you much longer. My team and I are about to solve the most mysterious mystery of all time!"

 _Mom and Dad?_ Sarada thought, her heart pounding at the thought of meet her parents' younger selves.

"What's the mission?"

The blue-eyed boy gave a huge, silly grin and leaned in to whisper in Sarada's ear. "Revealing what's under Kakashi-sensei's mask!"

Sarada stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded, before trying to contain her laughter. She remembered her mom telling her stories about these gimmicks they would do when they were Genins. She decided this was a good chance to take part of it.

"Can I help too?"

"Sure, Sarada-chan! We could really use it."

"NARUTO!?"

All of a sudden, the blonde went from standing peacefully to being faceplanted right onto the dirt path below him after being struck in the head by a strong fist.

Sarada turned around and widened her eyes to see a girl with beautiful, long pink hair reaching the small of her back. She stood with her hands firmly against either side of her waist, glaring at the blockhead on the ground. Her skin was a creamy white tone, much like her own, and her face was relenting with annoyance and anger.

"Mama." The Uchiha whispers to herself, eyeing her mother up and down. She couldn't resist a huge smile.

"S-Sakura-chan.." Naruto whines, still on the ground wincing in pain.

"Eh?" Sakura's gaze focused on the dazed out Uchiha. "You are?"

Sarada continued to daze out into space, tranced by the appearance of her mother. She still had the same qualities as she did as a 12 year old Genin, minus the tiny wrinkles and all that. Sakura continued to stare at the Uchiha, annoyed that she wasn't getting a reply until a chastising voice broke out from above.

"What are you doing, dobe? You're holding the plan back!"

The three of them peered up to the voice coming from what seemed like the top of the building beside them. It was yet another familiar voice. In a second, the figure jumped from the building and landed smoothly on his feet in front of the commotion of their conversation.

Sarada nearly lost her breath. Her gaze immediately shifted from her mother to the sight of the younger Sasuke Uchiha, the father she dearly missed every single day of her life 20 years from now.

She noted his short, spiky hair that brushed away from his face and his firm jawline that was still present in the future. Uncle Naruto was right, she could see that Sasuke really had been one of the good-looking ones from their academy graduating class.

"I'm Sarada." The female Uchiha exclaims, walking closer to Sasuke almost robotically and observed him right in the face, inches apart. Sasuke leans back a little and shifts his look to the side awkwardly, avoiding contact with the stranger.

The pink-haired girl watched as Sarada continued to fawn over the Uchiha with an ever so obvious blush on her face. Sakura scowls, crossing her arms to contain her jealousy. "You have a weird name."

Sarada peered over at her mother, trying her best not to rebute the fact that she was the one who came up with her name. But she could tell that she didn't like how she was getting all giddy over her husband, which was both cute and _hilarious_.

"Where are you from?"

The Uchiha heiress froze at her father's sudden inquiry. She took a step back and fidgeted with her glasses, pushing them forward closer to her face. She hadn't really begun to prepare a story for herself yet, but she guessed it had to come out right now.

"Erm, I'm just travelling around town training, kind of like on a journey. Thought I'd stop by Konoha."

She received a look of suspicion from the onyx-eyed boy, followed by an eyeroll by her mother. Her parents sure were difficult people, at least that has never changed.

Immediately, Naruto jumped up onto his feet, and despite the swollen bump on the back of his head, he displayed a smile.

"Guys, Sarada-chan's going to help us with the plan!"

"This girl!?" Sakura pointed at the female Uchiha, whose eyes became bright at the thought of becoming apart of the Team 7 camaraderie.

"Fine." Sasuke closed his eyes and shifted himself around, starting his path forward.

"Come with us."

* * *

Sarada and Sakura crouched behind a bush facing a small open field where Naruto stood, eyes peering through a hole between the center of the branches. Sasuke was present on the other side of the field in a tree, watching down below.

She wasn't really sure what was going on in this ambush, but all she had to do was wait for Naruto's signal and charge ahead. Earlier on, Naruto had written a note to Kakashi, instructing him to meet him at this field half past 2. It would actually be hysterical if he fell for it.

Sakura watched intently through the bush, even though Kakashi hadn't arrived yet. Sarada observed the pink-haired girls gaze, only to realize that it traced towards Sasuke staring from the tree across them.

Sarada grinned. "Do you love Sasuke?"

The pink haired girl's face turned bright as a tomato before shifting in her spot, startled at the sudden question. "Of course!"

"Do you think you're going to marry him?" Obviously Sarada took this chance to poke fun at her mother. Fun and games.

" _Marry_ him?" Sakura turned to look at the female Uchiha wide-eyed, her face even redder than before. "I hope so, that's my dream."

Her gaze shifted back to the raven-haired boy peering through the tree, her expression becoming softer as a benevolent smile displayed on her lips. "I'm confident that Sasuke-kun is the love of my life. It'd definitely be a dream to marry him one day."

Sarada could feel her own heart pounding at her mother's words.

Her mouth opened to tell her that her dream would come true. That 20 years from now, she would be complaining too much about him coming home late, making all of his favourite dishes on days where he would finally come home from his journeys, receiving his kisses on the forehead when she breaks down from having a rough day at the hospital...

And that 20 years from now, she'd have a baby girl with him who is currently crouching right beside her joining in on this ridiculous mission.

But she held herself together, closing her mouth and responding with a simple smile which corresponded to the warmth of her heart.

Sakura catches the stupid grin on the female Uchiha's face and scowled. "I know what you're thinking. Don't even think about trying to steal him away, Sarada!"

"He's coming." Sarada interrupts, noticing a silver-haired man from afar.

The two of them shifted their gaze towards the middle of the field, where they could see Kakashi approaching from the gravel path onto the grass until he saw the blue-eyed boy waiting in the center. He walked up to him, but remained at a considerable distance.

The blonde and silver-haired ninja stood face to face in silence, intently watching eachother for some kind of initiation.

"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, breaking the tension.

After a few moments, Naruto slowly raised his arm and quickly darted it forwards, pointing a single finger at his sensei.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" He yelled, causing his teacher to flinch at the sudden excitement in his voice. "We're going to figure out what's under that mask once and for all!"

"HAH!?" Sarada exclaimed, "He just straight up told him! Was there no actual strategy to this!?"

Sakura shrugged. "We did everything you could possibly imagine. Now just wait for Naruto's signal."

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

In a split second, copies of the blonde began appearing one by one, each of them surrounding Kakashi at every vicinity until it practically covered the entire field. Kakashi's eyes shifted side by side, taking into account each and every one of them in his vision.

"Alright!" Naruto spoke, "Let's get him!"

All of a sudden, the clones started moving in at once, charging towards the silver-haired ninja who was still standing at the same spot without moving a hair.

But as soon as the clones started to close in on him, he started to move. Within a flash, he began dissipating the clones one by one with just a movement of his hands and feet.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he watched his clones disappear just as quickly as they formed. As they were destroyed, large poofs of smoke surrounded the air for a bit. Once Kakashi was down to the last few clones, he decided it was time.

"NOW!"

Sakura and Sasuke jumped to their feet, and in an instant, they were charging themselves towards the center of the field.

As Kakashi destroyed the last clone, it only took half a second for Sakura to close in behind him and grab his arms, holding them close together behind his back. Sasuke, on the other hand, charged at him from the top, ready to pounce on him aerially. Naruto rushed over to the pink-haired girl, helping her restrain their sensei.

Sarada lagged behind the group by a few seconds, and by the time everyone had Kakashi in position, she was already more than halfway through the field closing in on him.

 _Maybe I should use my Sharin- no, that's no good, that would be troublesome to explain to Dad._ Sarada looked over at her father, who was already wringing onto Kakashi's neck and upper body.

 _Oh, whatever._ She opted for the simple way.

The next few seconds felt like time was slowing down in anticipation for this moment. Sarada reached her arm forward, hands ready to tear down the dark blue mask of her parents' sensei. Her eyebrows furrowed at the intensity of this moment, she could feel herself starting to sweat as she aimed for speed and accuracy.

But just as she was nearly an inch away from success, Naruto's voice broke out in a cry.

"GET AWAY EVERYONE! THERE'S AN EXPLOSIVE!"

Shit. Such a cheap trick. She was practically embarrassed that her mom and dad were the type of people who would fall for this.

In an instant, everybody withdrew from their positions, running back as far as they could. However, the pink-haired girl grunted as she stumbled onto the ground, tripping in her run. Her eyes immediately darted towards the explosive on her sensei's lower ankle, ready to explode any minute.

"SAKURA!" Naruto exclaimed. Just as he was about to pounce forward again, the raven-haired boy quickly made a run towards the viridian-eyed girl.

And just as the explosive tag went off in a large boom, he grabbed her shoulder and legs and the two of them went flying, rolling off onto the ground from the impact.

Sarada watched as her mother's face started to turn red after noticing the distance between her and Sasuke. Soon, she felt herself starting to blush as well. Her parents made a damn good couple.

"You guys are still onto this thing, huh?"

The four of them turned to a voice coming from behind a tree, and watched as the real Kakashi showed himself from his hiding. He casually walked out to the center of the field with his hands in his pockets, where his dupe previously stood. "I see you've got yourselves a helper this time." He said, casting a glance over at Sarada in acknowledgment.

"Better luck next time, though."

* * *

Sarada shuffled her feet as she walked beside Sasuke, neither of them making an effort to speak. He noticed her constantly shifting her eyes over to steal looks at him, which only contributed to his thoughts of her being weird.

After the failure of their plan, the four of them as well as Kakashi-sensei made their way back to the village center. Sakura was in the back, bickering with Naruto over something trivial. Kakashi remained neutral, reading his adult fiction in absolute silence.

 _I want to talk to him._ Sarada thought, continuing to look over at her father every few seconds.

All of a sudden, she could feel something pressing against her skin, and it started to burn against her.

Trying hard not to react, she looked down at her wrist and realized the bracelet device she put on was starting to get hotter and hotter.

She figured maybe this was how it was telling her she had to leave this time-point.

Ugh. _But that was only for a few hours.._ Sarada thought in dismay. And she still had to figure out how to switch in between times.

Taking advantage of the few moments she had left, she decided to strike up a conversation with her father while she could.

"So what do you do for fun?" Sarada began, feeling a little bit shy over this interaction. It was strange, meeting his younger version who she has no idea how to connect to, or even anything about him. Not that it was really much different from his future self.

"Nothing in particular." The raven-haired boy replied, walking with his hands in either of his pockets while wearing a nonchalant expression.

"Haah? Don't you like hanging out with Sakura and Naruto everyday or anything?"

"They're okay."

Her dad really was a man of few words. Thank god he's gotten a lot better 20 years from now, but she'd hate to think that her mom had to deal with this every single day. It was hard to imagine how a guy like him would be interested in love and marriage, much less having a child.

She had sort of given up, seeing as he didn't bother making an effort to speak to her.

After walking for a few seconds in silence, Sasuke glances at her for a brief moment before finally initiating a topic.

"You look familiar."

The Uchiha heiress felt her heart skip a beat. _That's because I'm half of you, Dad._

"I don't think I've met you before." She replies in denial. At least it was somewhat true. She decided to use this opportunity to ask him more questions.

"Do you have any dreams? Aspirations? Love interests, maybe?"

Sasuke paused, looking as if he was in the midst of deep thought. Eventually, he closed his eyes and responded. "I just want to become stronger."

 _Of course, that's my dad._ Sarada thought, feeling a wave of confidence rush through her. She would've loved to see all the hard work he's put in as a Genin to make himself who he is in the future. Then again, she heard he was quite the natural prodigy.

She wasn't really content with his answer, though. However, by the time she was ready to bombard him with more questions, they had already reached the front of the Konoha gates.

Sarada paused in her tracks, and the rest of the group continued to walk ahead until they noticed her stopping. Sakura turned around, questioning her actions. "Sarada? Aren't you coming back to the village?"

"Uhm," The Uchiha heiress glanced at each and every one of them, staring at her in confusion waiting for an answer. "Actually, I have to go."

"What!? Already!?" Naruto exclaimed, running up to her and sticking his face right in front of hers. "You haven't even gotten the chance to try the best ramen in the world!"

"Ahah, I'll definitely come back to try it." Sarada said, scratching the back of her head. "I-I have to go on and see other places."

Sakura sighed, walking up to the Uchiha heiress and shooting her a smile. "Thanks for your help today, even though our plan failed."

Sarada felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She wished she could stay here longer. Then again, this was only the beginning of her adventures. There was still more to see.

Instinctively, she lunged forward, capturing the pink-haired girl in a tight hug with her hands thrown over her neck. Sakura gasped in surprise, but grinned and slowly returned her hug.

After staying like this for a few seconds, Sarada looked up and made eye contact with the raven-haired boy, who remained nonchalant but stared at her with a blank expression. She didn't really know how to go about bidding goodbye to him.

Still embracing her mother, she raised one hand from the pink-haired girls' neck and gave the male Uchiha a slow, sentimental wave. She really wished she could have stayed longer. A million thoughts were running through her head as she gave him a benevolent smile, one that was tinged with sadness in her eyes.

Sasuke returned her goodbye with a smirk that crept up on the corners of his lips, nodding his head in acknowledgment.

She released her hug from the pink-haired girl and turned to face everybody once again, letting her arms fall to her sides. "I'll be going now. Thanks for letting me join in on your mission!"

"So long, Sarada-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Will we see you again?" Sakura asked, maintaining a strong gaze with the female Uchiha.

Sarada gave her a huge grin in amusement, letting out a small chuckle.

"You definitely will."

* * *

The girl with the small red glasses paces herself along the forest pathway, walking further and further away from the village gates.

The bracelet on her wrist was getting even hotter than before. She winced as she held her hand up, observing the metal piece.

 _I wonder what I should do with this._

After taking a moment to think, she remembered she still had the tiny scroll. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled her hand back out with the small scroll inside of her palm.

Looking down, she noticed that the bracelet had a tiny hole on the side of it, on the area where the bracelet was significantly thicker than the rest of its parts. She figured the scroll would fit nicely inside of it.. maybe that would do something.

Instinctively, she took the small scroll inside of her hand and placed it between her fingers, giving it a tiny push inside the bracelet which made a soft clicking noise as it locked into place.

The bracelet started to cool down immensely, and in a split second, Sarada felt herself starting to be tugged again. This time, it was less strong, and she was starting to get used to it already from the last time. She closed her eyes and felt an irresistible smile starting to display on her face, letting the wind freely grasp at her body as she felt herself beginning to move back into the white space.

 _The Leaf Village almost didn't even change at all._ She thought, reviewing the events that occurred in this time-point.

 _Uncle Naruto became Konoha's greatest ninja just like how he always wanted._

 _Mom fulfilled her dream of marrying dad._

 _And Dad..._

 _Well,_

 _I'm on my way to figuring it out._


	4. Interlude: The Voice

Like the pulling, the wind also goes away faster this time. Instead of struggling for balance, the Uchiha heiress found herself standing perfectly still in the white space. Not floating, and nothing was touching her.

She looked down at her wrist, staring at the piece of metal around her skin. She still wasn't sure how to continue on into the next time-point.

Sarada started to fiddle around with her bracelet, tossing her wrist around and touching all around it, trying to make something happen.

 _This isn't doing anything._ She thought, cocking her head to the side in confusion. She reached into her pocket, hoping to find another tiny scroll or something, but came out with nothing.

She eventually resorted to yanking it off by force, but was interrupted by a voice that seemed to have come out of thin air.

"It's not going to come off."

Startled by her sudden company, the Uchiha bounced to her feet from surprise. Immediately, she adopted a defensive stance, searching around for the owner of the mysterious voice. "Who is it!?"

She received no answer.

"..Hello?"

The voice started speaking again. "It'll take you the next time-point soon. Just wait."

 _Oh._ Sarada was confused as to who was speaking to her, but she gave up on pushing for his identity since he was at least giving her some answers.

"Can I choose where to go?"

"You can't. Besides, how would you know where to go if you weren't even born yet?"

Oh. That was true too.

"So how does this all end? How do I exit a time-point?"

"You only get a few transports. They're pre-picked. You'll know when it ends. I don't know how you exit."

"Okay..." Sarada drones off, raising an eyebrow at how peculiar this was. "How do you know so much about this? Do you live in here?"

".. Not exactly."

Whoever this person was, he wasn't much of a speaker at all.

"Why are you using this?" The voice continued, initiating conversation again.

"I want to know more about my family." Sarada says, unsure of why she felt the need to explain anything to this.. person, spiritual being, whatever it was. "Because they won't talk to me about it."

Her reply was followed by another thread of silence.

"What's your name?" The voice continued, surprising her again.

"Sarada Uchiha." The heiress replies, slightly hesitant. "Hey, that's not fair! You didn't tell me your name."

And right at that very moment, she felt her body starting to disappear, until she vanished into thin air.


	5. Rewind II: Because I'm Your Daughter

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: The Uchiha heiress meets the Genin version of her parents in her first time-point. She realizes the connection between her parents and is confident to see more in her next travel.

A/N: Another long chapter! Thanks for the wait everybody! I usually try to make all of my stories synonymous with the events in the actual anime, although I do add new things here and there. Not including the Interludes, I do want to finish this story in 8 or 9 chapters. (I'm not good at long term writing commitments so I want to make sure it'll be easier for me to actually finish this one T _ T)

Can you believe Naruto is ending in literally 2 episodes? ; u; ma childhood.

* Note: Kakashi doesn't appear. Read on to know what I mean.

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

.

.

 **Journey Back In Time**

Rewind II: Because I'm Your Daughter

.

.

The blue-eyed boy paced back and forth in his office, arms firmly crossed together as he contemplated his speech in his head.

He had told his old teammates to meet him in the Hokage's office after lunch. Even so, he didn't know how he should go about telling them what happened to their daughter.

The time technique made it so that Sarada is missing way shorter than she actually is. She could be experiencing an entire day over there, while back in real-time, only a few hours had passed.

It was the next afternoon since he discovered her being missing from the storage room. Sasuke and Sakura definitely wondered where she went for the night. In fact, Sakura tried to ask Naruto earlier on in the morning, but thank god something came up and managed to drag him away.

"No need to be afraid." The blonde took a deep breath, giving himself the pep-talk he needed. "Hokage's aren't afraid of their best friends. Nope."

"Naruto?"

The blue-eyed boy jumped off his feet at the sound of Sakura's voice. He shifted his gaze up and realized that his best friends had already made their way into the office, standing right in front of him. He must've been too busy thinking to notice.

"Have you heard any word about Sarada?" Sakura inquired, a worried look shown on her face. Sasuke stood by her side, looking neutral, but the blonde could tell that he wanted to know as well.

Everything he originally planned to say became lost. Naruto took a few moments to collect himself together before speaking.

"I was with her last night."

"What!?" Sakura exclaimed. You could practically see a vein starting to pop from her forehead. "You told me you didn't know where she was this morning!"

"She's not here." The blonde continues, careful with his words. "She's not in Konoha. Not this one, she isn't."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He was starting to lose his patience. "What do you mean?"

Deciding there was no going back, Naruto picked up the scroll on his desk and held it up with his hands. With a flick of his finger, he let it fall open so that the red seal was evidently shown to the two of them.

"Sarada went back in time."

"W-What do you mean?" Sakura asks again, slowly. She didn't understand, but this definitely didn't sound good.

Sasuke caught on to the bad vibes as well. He started to clench his fists, in hopes that Naruto would hurry the hell up with the talk.

"Last night, I ran into Sarada-chan and she started asking me things about the Uchiha's." Naruto went on. "I brought her in the storage room so she could read up on it herself, but she found this scroll which contained a time-travel technique. She probably decided it was a good idea to use it to answer her questions.."

He stopped, searching for a reaction from his best friends, but the two of them remained frozen still. He figured they were being calm and rational about this, until Sakura's face immediately turned beastly with rage.

"You're telling me that she found some technique that no one's ever heard of and went back in time to see all the shit that's happened here in Konoha!?" She bursted, walking up to the blonde and practically screaming into the Hokage's face. "And before that, you brought her into the storage room so she could READ about her relatives!?"

The raven-haired boy could feel his blood run cold.

"NARUTO! Do you know how dangerous it is for her to be back in that time!?" Sakura fired again, causing the blonde to flinch back. Her mind raced at the flashbacks of the past. Orochimaru, Akatsuki, the fourth great ninja war.

Not to mention Sasuke's absence.

"I know, Sakura." The blonde whispered in dismay, unable to make eye contact with the pink-haired girl. "I didn't think-"

"Bring me there."

Sakura turned around, following her husband's voice, while the blue-eyed boy looked up at his best friend. Sasuke's crimson eyes were glaring straight at him, and the blonde knew what he wanted to do.

Naruto frowned, returning his friend's strong glare. "You _can't_ , Sasuke. There's no way in hell you can exist in two places at once."

"What do _you_ think we should do then?" The raven-haired boy spat.

Naruto loosened his expression and took a deep breath.

"You're just going to have to leave it to Sarada-chan."

"What are you _saying_ , Naruto!?" Sakura yelled again, unable to comprehend how absurd everything was. "Sarada is in there all alone and you damn well know what went on between all of us 20 years ago!" She continued, pausing before her next burst.

"HOW ABOUT I JUST THROW BORUTO AND HIMAWARI IN THERE TO HANGOUT WITH THE KYUUBI?"

At that moment, Naruto slammed his hands down on the desk, causing the papers on it to fly off in all directions. Sakura flinched from his sudden movement while Sasuke remained unphased.

"Just how long are you going to keep it from her!?" The blonde screams before starting again.

"She's your daughter. She needs to know at some point, and you two are always underestimating her." Naruto turned around so that he was now facing the glass window where the village could be seen, almost as if he was dismissing the two of them from further conversation. "You guys are her parents, for god's sake. If you won't trust that she'll return safely, then I will."

Sakura's expression turned sullen, and a wave of emotion overcame her before she spoke softly. "But still, to go see it for herself..."

" _Seeing_ it is one thing."

Naruto's eyes shifted to the side as Sasuke spoke, a harsh tone present in his voice. He could practically feel his red eyes stabbing through his back.

"But if something happens to her in there, I really doubt your judgment as a Hokage."

The two of them stood still as the raven-haired boy shifted around and made an exit out of the door, failing to close it on his way out.

* * *

"Ouch.."

Sarada woke up from being unconscious, clutching her head from the dizziness of her fall.

The white space wasn't very nice this time. When she entered this time-point, it simply sent her dropping from what seemed like the sky until she fell smack on the ground.

She opened her other eye and took a long look around her. After getting herself up and turning around 360, all she could see were tall trees. She was in the middle of a forest.. and who knew if she was even in Konoha.

 _I should probably start looking for people..._ Sarada thought, beginning to walk along the dirt path of the forest.

She wondered what time it was at this time-point. Maybe her parents were 20. Maybe they were 10. There was no way she could've known.

It was quite exhilarating to her, actually. The Uchiha heiress gave herself a grin in excitement. After her experience at the first time-point, she felt like she was ready for anything.

Suddenly, she heard rustling coming from behind her. The Uchiha paused in her tracks and listened with her eyes narrowed. Someone was coming.

She immediately retreated behind a bush beside the dirt path and waited for the person to reveal themselves. She wondered if it was going to be somebody she recognized.

The person's presence got stronger and stronger as they got closer. They were racing forwards, jumping from tree to tree. Sarada took a large gulp and waited intently in silence.

Immediately, she witnessed a pink blob of hair rush past the tree above her, disappearing just as a fast as it appeared.

"It's _mom_." Sarada confirmed to herself, feeling giddy once again. _She looked different._

Her feet began to move on their own. In a second, she found herself running to catch up with the viridian-eyed girl, who had already disappeared from her sight.

It was only a brief second, but she could tell that her mother was a lot older in this time-point. She noticed that her hair was shoulder-length and her figure looked much more mature than before. They were probably only three years apart in this time.

 _She won't remember me anyways._ Sarada thought, remembering that memories are reset once she exits the previous time-point. _Maybe she's a Jounin.._ w _ill_ _it be weird If I hung out with her when she's so much older now?_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a burning sensation take place on her wrist. The metal bracelet was heating up, prompting her to go back.

 _Already?_ The Uchiha raised an eyebrow. _But I literally just got here.._

It went away after a few minutes. Despite the pain of the redness that it left behind on her wrist, she discovered that she had finally caught up with the pink-haired girl.

Her heart began to race as she could see her mother standing by the side of a long, stone bridge. Sarada smiled and jumped down from the tree, breaking into a run towards her mother.

"Sa-!"

She paused in her tracks as she noticed that half of the stone bridge was broken, the middle part torn into two. She could sense a strong chakra coming from the other side of the bridge, but she couldn't see that far to make out what was going on.

The pink-haired girl easily jumped from one end to the other, which prompted Sarada to walk closer. Eventually, she hid herself behind a tall stone pillar just before where the bridge started. Slowly and carefully, she peered past the pillar, revealing a single eye for observation.

Oh, god.

The Uchiha heiress felt her mouth drop open automatically at the sight of an onyx-eyed boy, dirty and covered in blood, standing on the other side of the bridge beside a red-haired girl laying on the ground who looked like she was about to die.

 _What's.. what's happening?_

"I'll do anything you want me to!" She heard her mother say as she approached the raven-haired boy. "I'm tired of having regrets."

"Do you know what I _really_ want?" He responds nonchalantly, a firmness present in his tone.

"I don't care what it is!" Sakura yelled in desperation. "I'll do whatever it is! Even if-"

"To destroy the Leaf."

Sarada's eyes widened at her father's statement. Her heart started to pound faster. She needed to know what was going on. What he was saying.

What he _meant._

She saw that Sakura was also surprised by this statement, as she let out a small gasp.

"That's what I want." Sasuke confirmed. "You think you're really capable of doing that? Betraying the Leaf Village for me?"

The viridian-eyed girl hesitated for a split second, but quickly collected herself together, hoping the shakiness in her voice wasn't detectable. "Yes, If you asked me to."

".. Okay." The raven-haired boy closed his eyes and quickly darted his finger towards the helpless red-haired girl on the ground. "Prove it to me. Kill her right now and I'll believe you."

Sarada felt her legs beginning to tremble. She's never seen her father so relentless, so.. unfamiliar. He had a dark aura to him, one that was foreign and evil. Her gaze darted towards the redhead on the ground, and her eyes widened to see that she had the exact same pair of glasses as she did.

 _It's the lady that helped mom with my birth._ Sarada thought. _B-But wasn't she his teammate or something?_

Sarada watched her mother carefully, feeling her own forehead starting to sweat at the suspense. After a few seconds, Sakura withdrew a kunai from under her cape and slowly made her way towards the redhead, a small stagger present in her walk.

Her dad watched as intently as she did when she paused in front of the girl on the ground.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her lag. "What's the matter, Sakura? You can't do it?"

The Uchiha heiress refused to swallow the lump in her throat.

 _No, Dad._

 _You're not like this._

She suddenly felt a sense of urgency as the raven-haired boy slowly walked behind Sakura. He had a look in eyes.. a dark, relenting-

Oh my god.

 _He's going to kill her._

Her heart practically stopped as she watched her Dad gather a Chidori in his hand, silently and hiding his chakra as much as possible. He looked at the back of her mom like she was a pest.

A million thoughts started racing through her mind. And for a brief moment, she completely forgot that this was only a figment of the past. Her mom was in danger.

 _I have to do something._

 _Mom is going to die. She's going to die for sure._

 _Dad's going to kill her._

 _FUCK. H-How can I-_

 _NO!_

And before she knew it, abandoning all reason, her legs moved on their own.

* * *

She reached the two of them just in time, grabbing hold of her father's wrist that contained the glowing Chidori and twisting his arm so that his body began to turn sideways. In that split second, their eyes came in contact with eachother just before Sasuke spun his way out of her grip and landed back, maintaining distance with her.

The Uchiha heiress panted long, strong breaths of air. Her pulse was racing and nothing else was in her vision except the savage father staring at her from afar.

Almost immediately, she realized the consequences of her actions. What was she _thinking?_ This was only a time-point, it was _years_ ago. Yet, it triggered this kind of reaction from her. She knew better.

But she didn't have time to go yelling at herself. Not right now.

"D-Don't hurt her!" Sarada exclaimed in a quivering voice as she held up her arms, guarding her mother, who stared at her with a confused yet surprised look on her face.

Her mind was a blur. She had no idea what she was planning to do, but there was no going back.

The onyx-eyed boy shot her a strong glare, suspicious of her intentions.

"Who are you?"

Sarada wasn't sure how to answer his question, and instead let the large gulp go down her throat.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, ignoring his question and trying hard not to show any fear in her voice. "Isn't the Leaf Village your home!?"

She waited for an answer, but he continued to stare at her like she was an annoyance. All of a sudden, he displayed a small grin, followed by a series of chuckles.

Sarada's eyes widened and she felt her heart beginning to sink to the depths of the earth as she listened to her dad let out the most maniacal, hysterical laugh she's ever heard.

 _This isn't dad._

He soon stopped and fixed his eyes back on her, showing a smirk on his face.

"I don't know anything about what home is."

Sarada scoffed, trying her best to hold back her tears. She couldn't believe this was happening.

"But they're your family." She whispered, hearing her own voice beginning to choke.

Sasuke's expression turned serious at this moment, the bridge between his nose wrinkling as he scowled with a terrifying glare.

"My family is _dead._ "

In an instant, the raven-haired boy charged up with a Chidori, running straight for the Uchiha heiress with a fire in his eyes.

She knew she should move. But she couldn't. Instead, she stood, letting a single tear run down the side of her face as she watched her dad close in on her.

Just as he was nearing her, Sakura jumped in front of the Uchiha heiress, holding her kunai up in defense.

It wasn't a problem for the onyx-eyed boy as he grabbed the pink-haired girl's arm and tossed her aside with almost no effort at all, letting her hit and roll onto the side of the bridge before she went unconscious. His eyes immediately darted back towards the Uchiha heiress, but just when he was about to initiate his attack, he froze and widened his eyes.

Sarada was staring at him blankly, tears streaming madly from her bright crimson eyes.

He paused for a moment to search her gaze, trying to comprehend the red eyes that were similar to his own.

"Who _are_ you?" He spat in a whisper, his expression even more unforgiving as before.

"Somebody you'll regret killing." She whispered angrily, which only provoked him into another short, maniacal laughter.

"I don't have any regrets." He responds.

If Sarada had two hearts, the other one would've dropped just about now.

She practically watched as her father raised his hand with the Chidori, ready to slam it into her chest with an expression of murder.

Her eyes were a blur, and she wasn't sure if it was because of her tears or because of her mind that was really getting to her. She failed to foresee her next few movements.

She stood no chance against her dad, not like this. If anything, at this very moment, all she knew was that she had to run.

And she did.

After managing to dodge his attack, she ran as fast as her legs could take her, the tears blocking her sight. But she didn't care.

 _Don't get yourself killed._ She remembered the seventh rule of the time travelling scroll.

It just didn't make sense to her how her last time-point was so serene, so happy, so carefree..

And now, it seemed like she was in a living hell, and she wasn't sure if she would even make it out alive.

Her legs felt heavy, as if they weren't carrying her anywhere. She wished for the bracelet to hurry and become hot, so she knew it was time to leave this awful, unreal place.

Her own dad was trying to _kill_ her, for god's sake.

Just as she reached the end of where the bridge broke into two, she paused and stared down at the bottom of the ravine, trying to catch her breath which only remained staggered.

The pit was dark and endless. Just like this time-point.

Just then, she felt a strong presence lurking behind her, and she knew that he had already caught up. As she began to turn around, she saw his hand reaching for her from the corner of her eye and gasped when she felt her neck being caught in his grip.

The raven-haired boy turned her so that she was now facing him, letting her stand on the tip of the edge between safety and oblivion.

She peered at him through her tear-stained eyes, catching sight of the madness that was present in his own. He was gripping her hard, and she felt like she was about to lose consciousness.

"Don't do this." She begged him, her voice barely alive.

Sasuke formed a ferocious smile on the corner of his lips. "Why not?"

 _Because I'm your daughter._ Sarada thought, letting out a gag as he intensified his grip.

And in a second, he let go, and everything felt like it was a lot slower than it should be as he let her drop down into the dark ravine.

Sarada's arms reached out instinctively, attempting to grab hold of his hand that was so familiar yet so foreign. She was responded by still the same maniacal smile on her dad's face.

Her tears flew into the air as she continued to fall deeper and deeper, until she became completely out of his sight.


	6. Interlude: Keep going, Keep fighting

A/N: Hello everyone, sorry for the slow update. I just got my wisdom teeth removed and I'm gradually dying so I'm not really in the mood to write Q_Q. Also been experiencing a terrible writer's block for the next few chapters so I don't really feel like they're the best T_T. This time around, I'll only be giving you this interlude until I can get myself back together!

* * *

I refused to open my eyes.

But I knew I wasn't dead. I knew I was back in the white space because I didn't feel my bones shatter into pieces when I was supposedly about to die from that fall. The bracelet must have gotten me back here before I hit the ground. Hell, I could've saved myself. Even so, I refused to open my eyes.

My head was kept buried into my knees as I sat on the nothingness of the time-space. My skin was tainted with wet tears and I could feel snot slowly dripping from my nose. Not that I cared.

"Sarada."

It was that anonymous voice again. Really, I'm not in the mood to talk. On second thought, maybe my mind was going crazy and the voice wasn't real after all.

" _Sarada_."

Uh, nope. It was definitely real. Just as real as the fact that my body was still trembling and the image of my insane father was still imprinted in my mind. I'm not so much as angry as just feeling rather confused.

I take it back when I thought that I was ready for anything. No one could've been ready for this. No one.

"Go away, you creep." I said, managing to force some ugly words out of my mouth. But as soon as I spoke, I felt myself beginning to break even more. "None of this is even real. I need to go back home."

".. This is real." My heart dropped as the voice reminded me of this harsh reality. Dammit, I was having a moment. I let out a tiny whimper before I felt the waterworks starting up again.

"You have to keep going. There's no other way."

"I have to go home." I said again, probably still in denial, in hopes that this weird anonymous being would know how to get me out of here.

"Everything you see is only a small portion of a bigger scenario" It said. "The time-space only gives you fragments of many different pieces. You're not going to leave with every single detail covered, but you can't leave like this. You have to continue."

I don't want to see more.

Of course, I knew what it meant. After all, I came here to figure out the history of my entire family. I'm getting what I was looking for. But after seeing that last time-point.. who knew if there were more fucked up things to come.

"You came to decipher your family's history, right?"

The voice read my thoughts as if I had been speaking with them. Slowly, I looked up from my closed position, red faced, staring into the nothingness of where I thought the sound was coming from.

"You interfered with a battle, Sarada, and it could've led to severe consequences." The voice continued. "But thankfully no one died and you didn't change much. Everything afterwards still remained the same."

Well. I take it that's a good thing. Not that I really wanted to stick around to see what happened next.

".. I promise you you're not seeing anything right now. You have to keep going."

I took a long, staggered breath. I was scared of so many things. Of time, of death, of the truth.

But I knew the voice was right. I'll never fully know unless I keep fighting.

It's just my thoughts would always run back to my father's vivid image inside of my head. The way he charged towards my mother like she meant nothing to him, the way he charged towards _me_ , a complete stranger to him.

Nothing made sense. But I had to start somewhere. I'm going to be the future Hokage, after all. I need to connect with as many people as I possibly could.

And in order to do that, no matter how dirty or dark it is, I have to start with my family.


	7. Rewind III: You, Who Gave it All (Pt1)

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: Sarada is scarred after seeing the face of her savage father, who tried to kill her mother and herself. She falls to her death after questioning how he became that way..

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

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 **Journey Back In Time**

Rewind III: You, Who Gave it All (Pt.1)

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"Be careful..."

"It's fine. Naruto may be Hokage, but he can still be an idiot."

Sasuke and Sakura snuck their way into the safe room of the Hokage's confidential building, the pink-haired girl making sure no one was roaming the hall outside before giving the door a nice quiet shut. She turned around after locking it behind her, watching her husband move towards the giant metal vault that contained what they were looking for.

"Sasuke-kun, what are you planning to do exactly?"

"Naruto is right about that one part." The raven-haired boy stared at the giant door and narrowed his eyes, his mind focusing on the time-travel scroll. "There's no way I can get into the past. Not when there's already a me there."

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Then..."

"There's just something I have to confirm." He says, giving his eyes a shut as he held up his fingers to form a sign. Sakura watched as the vault slowly started to open, with almost no noise at all. Sometimes she wondered if there was really anything her husband _couldn't_ do.

After the door was fully open, he started his way inside, taking a giant step over the bottom of the ledge into the safe. The pink-haired girl followed him closely from behind as he reached the center of the vault and picked up the big scroll Naruto had showed them earlier.

Sakura glanced at the parchment in her husband's hands, analyzing his expression of deep thought. "What is it?"

The raven-haired man opened the scroll, slowly unwinding it so that he could thoroughly investigate its contents.

"There's just something about it." He started as he scanned through the initial instructions of the technique. "I feel like I've seen a glimpse of it before."

After looking over the rest of the material, Sasuke paused as he came across a blurred portion of the writing, hidden at the very bottom of the instructions. It seemed to be a stamp with a cluster of words together into the shape of a rectangle, and in the middle..

"The Uchiha crest."

" _What?_ " Sakura whispered in awe, quickly rushing closer beside her husband and grabbing the side of the scroll so she could see more clearly. It was faint, but it was definitely there. "Do the Uchiha's have something to do with this time-travel technique?"

"That's what I'm thinking." Sasuke says, brows furrowing as he tranced off into his mind. "Sakura. I'm going to try something."

".. Are you going to try and activate it?"

"Sarada already broke the seal for the initial entry. I don't believe it's possible to directly enter into the past. But if I'm correct.. this will work, to some extent."

Sakura watched as the raven-haired boy took a sharp bite of his thumb, revealing a fast trickle of blood down his skin before he slammed it onto the red circle in the scroll.

"Sasuke-"

The pink-haired girl jumped back as a white light sprung from the scroll, embodying the entire room accompanied by a strong wind. She held her arms back, hiding her eyes from the brightness of the energy.

In a few seconds, the light slowly dissipated, along with the presence of her husband.

* * *

Maybe she should run away.

That's it. If she found a way to destroy the bracelet, she'd be stuck in here forever. And that was perfect. If she was real careful, she could find ways to alter the past and everything would be okay again. Her father wouldn't be a maniac. Her mother wouldn't have almost gotten killed by his own hands. She'd make this past, a liveable present.

Ugh. What was she thinking? Now she was getting all these absurd ideas. Just look at how ridiculous that sounded. She didn't even know the full story yet and here she was making a plan as if she was going to change ninja history.

The Uchiha heiress stood, frozen, in the middle of a village that wasn't her own. Instead, the ground was completely covered by sand, which was accompanied by strong winds. She rubbed her eye when a few specks blew their way into her eyelid, which only made her start to tear again.

The time-travel had already taken her to a new point. She hasn't been to the sand village too often in the future world, but it was obvious she was there right now. In fact, she promised Boruto and Mitsuki that they would go on a personal adventure there one day, but it never really came around.

Oh, well.

It was evening here, and the sun was about to set. After taking a few moments to gaze at the pink tinged sky above, she began to walk. Slowly, but keen of her surroundings. She took note of how different it was from the Leaf Village. It didn't seem like a lot of people inhabited this place, but she knew they were probably all inside of their homes at this time.

After a few moments, Sarada paused in her tracks as she sensed a group of people coming up from behind her. Oh a whim, she hid behind the nearest house alleyway so she couldn't be seen.

Immediately, she saw three people walking past her. She recognized one of them as her mother, and the other two seemed to be Naruto and Kakashi. Her mom still looked the same as the last time-point that she'd seen her in, so it was either before or after when the last time-point incident happened.

 _They look like they're going somewhere._ Sarada thought, judging by the way they held their gazes in tact. On a whim, she decided to tail them. If anything, she was going to get to the bottom of everything.

 _"My family is dead."_ Sarada thought back to the words of her father, feeling a shiver go down her spine. .. What on earth happened?

In amidst of thought, her feet shuffled their way way closer to the three-man group, quickly darting behind each building she could get to as they continued to walk ahead.

 _It looks like they're going to the Kazekage's office._ She thought, noticing the tall, circular building that had the wind letter on it.

Suddenly, she let out a little gasp as the silver-haired man stopped in his tracks before the rest of the group and gazed behind him, searching the dead town. Sarada quickly popped her head behind the building wall, cursing herself for getting sidetracked.

"Show yourself."

The Uchiha should've known that their sensei would be the first to notice someone tailing them. Slowly, but defiantly, she walked out from her hiding out onto the sandy road. She held her gaze with him, but looked over at both her mom and Uncle Naruto to acknowledge their presence.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "You are?"

"Sarada." The girl with the glasses said, feeling a bit weird that she had to introduce herself so many times, although it was necessary.

"Ehh, why are you following us?" Naruto jumped in, more confused rather than suspicious.

Frankly, she didn't know what would make a good answer. After all, she had no idea what was going on at this time-point. In this moment, she glanced over at the blonde and noticed that her father wasn't present with the two of them and their sensei. She wondered where he was.

"I want to help." She blurted out with no specific plan in the course of her actions. _No doubt, they're probably on an important mission._

The three of them darted their eyes towards the leaf symbol on her headband, confirming her identity. They looked at eachother for a moment, as if they were deciding whether or not they should let her in.

"For what reason? How do we know you're not in alliance with our enemy?" Kakashi inquires again, still maintaining his suspicion.

"I want to protect the village." Sarada said, hoping he would buy her whole gimmick. Not that it wasn't true. "Konoha's my home, too. Let me help you."

The copy ninja continued to stare at her blankly, until the blonde gave him a harsh nudge on the side and displayed a wide grin. "Hey, hey! It should be okay. She looks like she'd be good help, besides, the more the better!"

Sakura and Kakashi gave him a blink of their eyes before their sensei let out a sigh and reached his arm to scratch the back of his head in defeat.

"Okay, then." He replied, "Follow along."

* * *

"The Kazekage is missing." Kakashi says, reinstating the facts, although this was Sarada's first time hearing about this situation first-hand. They were currently in one of the meeting rooms of the Kazekage's building, going over the present situation.

"Team Gai will be assisting us, although they'll be going in a different direction." He continues, laying his hands out on the map in front of them while making finger gestures. "We have to be extremely careful. There's a high chance that the Akatsuki will be out there to stop us."

Akatsuki...

Sarada replayed the moment at the dinner table where her parents spoke about the Akatsuki. She knew that they were a criminal group, but she didn't have too much detail on them and their specific antics. But, maybe they had something to do with Itachi.

"Who're the Akatsuki?" She asked with no hesitation.

Naruto blinked and raised an eyebrow, turning himself around to whisper in Sakura's ear. "Hey hey, should we really let her come along? Who in Konoha doesn't know who the Akatsuki are nowadays?"

The pink-haired girl scowled, giving him a harsh elbow in the stomach. "Don't be rude. You're the one who approved of her coming!"

She returned her gaze back to the Uchiha heiress, who was waiting for an answer despite their blabbering.

"The Akatsuki are an enemy group to the hidden villages. They're made up of rogue ninjas and right now, they're aiming to capture all the Bijuu to create some sort of technique that can wipe out the entire world." The pink-haired girl said calmly. "That's why they've got Gaara right now, and the Shukaku."

The beasts. Sarada remembers learning about this before, back when she would spend her days reading about the balance of power between the hidden villages.

 _Could it be that Dad joined this enemy group? Is that why he looked so different and isn't here anymore in this time-point?_ The Uchiha heiress said to herself, evading to her own train of thought. The three of them noticed her change in expression and paused.

".. Do you know something, Sarada?" Sakura inquired, tilting her head a little to take a better look at their new companion. The Uchiha heiress responded with a slow shake of her head.

"No." She denied flatly.

"Okay, then." The silver-haired man interrupted, continuing on. "Well, we have a lead. Kankuro of the sand managed to pick up one of Sasori's clothing that stuck onto his puppets. Thankfully, that will give us a leeway to where Gaara is."

"Chiyo will be joining us, as well." He added, looking back at his team members for approval and was responded with a bunch of nods.

 _Maybe I'll see dad again._ Sarada thought, thinking back to the possibility of encountering her father among the Akatsuki. Thank god she managed to get in on this mission. If there were any possible chances to confirm her curiosity, it was this.

"We'll set out the next morning." Kakashi announced once more. "They have rooms ready for us down the hall. Get plenty of rest everybody."

The three of them gave the silver-haired man another firm nod before scattering themselves out the door.

Sakura was the last to exit the room, slowing closing the door behind her before giving the Uchiha heiress a look. "Sarada. Do you want to share the room with me?"

The girl with the glasses turned around abruptly, her mother's offer managing to make her beam inside. She gave a small grin. If there was anything more comforting than what she's been feeling nowadays, it was being able to sleep by her mother's side. "Yeah, sure!"

"See you guys tomorrow, Sakura-chan, Sarada-chan!" The blonde said as the three of them reached the end of the hall, pausing to see eachother goodbye before the blue-eyed boy turned the opposite direction.

The two girls walked down the other side, their footsteps the only sound that was being made down the quietness of their area. Sarada looked at her mother from the corner of her eyes, hesitant to ask something, but she was curious. Finally, she mustered up the courage to speak.

"So where's your third member?" She asked, careful not to sound too stingy. She watched the pink-haired girl for a reaction, and caught sight of her expression quickly turning sullen.

"He's not with us."

 _I can see that._ Sarada thought to herself, giving a little pout. Her mother was practically the queen of evading questions, and she knew it all too well.

"Where did he go?"

The Uchiha heiress searched her face for another answer, and this time her mother started biting her lip with visible pressure. She wondered if she was being rude, and quickly decided to retract. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy."

"He left the village three years ago." The pink-haired girl managed a reply, catching the Uchiha heiress off guard.

Sarada felt her hands clench together. _Dad.. Left the village?_

She felt her mind starting to blur again, trying to put two and two together, or rather what seemed like a million pieces. Right now, it seemed like the long journeys her father would constantly go on weren't the first few ones he started ever since she was born. Judging by her mother, he's definitely been gone for way longer. Was it really for the Akatsuki? If not, for what?

The two of them reached the front of their door, her mother slowly turning the knob on the wooden frame and allowing a small click before she pushed it open. Sarada followed from behind, her eyes pointed to the ground, drifting into her thoughts once more.

* * *

 _He stared at her with his bright crimson eyes, desperate to shed more blood._

 _She was running. Running, but her legs felt heavy. The streets of Konoha were dark and empty, the only two in town were her and her father._

 _Her father, who was already right at her back._

 _The streets were changing. In a split second, she was back at the edge of the bridge, her small neck tightly in his grasp of his warm calloused hands. The same hands that would hold her in deep hugs and caress the top of her head to sleep._

 _While he was busy grasping her neck, his other arm reached out and formed a blue light in his palm. And within a second, he held it up in the air before he let it go crashing in-_

"No!" Sarada shot up from her sleep, taking fast staggered breaths in the wake of her nightmare. Her whole body was sweating, and her eyes darted around several areas of the room before landing on the pink-haired girl lying beside her.

Or, where she was supposed to be.

She took a moment to cool herself down before wiping the wetness of her forehead and uncovering herself from the thick blankets. She placed her feet onto the ground and started towards the door, leaving it half open as she exited the room.

The moonlight shone through the window, providing the only source of light inside the living room area. With its help, Sarada spotted her mother sitting on the tattered green couch in the corner, her arm providing support for her head as she leaned against it with her elbow on the arm of the couch.

".. Sakura?" The Uchiha heiress spoke her name softly, tiptoeing her way to her mother, who looked like she had been visibly crying.

"Sarada." The pink-haired girl blinked and quickly wiped her cheeks as her new company took the spot next to her. "Sorry.. Y-you don't have to see me like this."

"Is something bothering you?" The girl with the glasses moved the pillow from beside her mom and plopped herself down, facing the pink-haired woman from the side.

"It's nothing. I just get like this every now and then." Sakura forced a weak smile.

Truth is, Sarada already knew. She knew how to read her mother, and it wasn't just because she was an easy person to read. Her feelings and thoughts were almost transparent to her, in the future, and even now. After all, it wasn't her first time seeing her like this over the past couple of years with her father constantly being away from the family.

"Do you miss him?"

She watched her mother curl her lips inwards, and she could tell that she was already trying not to break down again.

"It's been so long, Sarada." She started, trying hard to keep her voice steady even though it already started to shake. "He's just not the same person anymore. You look in his eyes and..".

Sarada watched her mother's expression and noted how she was unable to finish her words. But she didn't need her to finish. She knew exactly what she meant. And it broke her heart knowing that her mom spent years knowing it before she did.

"You really love him don't you." Sarada whispered.

"I do." The pink-haired girl gasped for a deep breath of air. "But I really don't know how to reach out to him anymore."

The two of them sat in silence for a few seconds, allowing the quietness to engulf the room before her mother started speaking again.

".. Did you know him, Sarada?"

"Uh," The Uchiha heiress jumped, remembering to keep up her act. "No.. But you three were well known. Sasuke, right?"

Her heart rested as she saw her mother slowly nodding, accepting her response. Giving a small sigh of relief and another pause, she started again, this time in a more serious manner.

"Sakura, can I ask you something?"

The pink-haired girl looked beside her to the Uchiha, giving her a small nod in approval. "Yeah."

"Why did he leave?"

Sakura continued to hold her gaze at her, taking a large gulp before slowly shaking her head in disarray.

"Orochimaru and the sound ninja convinced him to go away." She spoke, slowly and quietly. "He wanted to get stronger. To defeat Itachi, a member of the Akatsuki."

Orochimaru..

 _He's the creepy dude I've met before, when I first met dad._ Sarada thought, thinking back to the time where they were in his lair. _Mom did tell me that he wasn't a good person before. I guess Dad wasn't part of the Akatsuki._ But it still didn't make sense.

And of course, Itachi. She needed to know more about that name.

"Can I ask you one more thing?" Sarada said, earning another nod from her mom before firing again.

"Who's Itachi?"

"One of the criminals in Akatsuki.. He's the one who tried to take the Kyuubi the first time."

"But what did he do to Sasuke?"

Sakura immediately stiffened. Sarada continued to stare at her before her mother finally looked her back in the eye.

"He's the one who massacred the entire Uchiha clan."

 _Massacre?_ Sarada felt her entire body freeze. Just- what?

She always thought maybe her relatives didn't live in a single village around her. Or maybe they just lost contact with her parents. Maybe something cliche like her father's side didn't approve of her mother. Never in a million years did she think they all perished in a bloodbath.

"Why did he do that?" Sarada whispered, feeling her own voice starting to shake.

Her mother didn't respond but instead closed her eyes and shook her head, letting herself absorb the air of the new atmosphere. "I don't know. But it's changed Sasuke-kun in ways that I don't even know can be fixed."

Suddenly, she had a glimpse of understanding why her father became the way he was when he tried to kill her. Grandma and Grandpa Uchiha.. everybody's lives were taken so abruptly away from him. He's been holding onto all of his hatred all this time, almost his entire life. Did he ever confide in anyone? His teammates, Naruto and Sakura? Kakashi?

 _But what did Itachi have do with the Uchiha's? What did he have against them? How did Dad ever come to terms with himself..._

She felt like all of the information was just jumbled together. She had difficulty placing everything into a clear timeline.

"How did.." Sarada started, still in shock. "How did he get away?"

"Itachi left him as a survivor." The pink-haired girl said. "He and his sibling are the only ones left."

Sarada blinked. She knew her father had a brother, but he refused to talk about him everytime she asked. It was a taboo subject, despite hearing the villagers whisper about Sasuke's sibling not being around anymore. She eventually just assumed he had died a long time ago as a child. "Itachi left Sasuke's sibling alive, too?"

"Huh?" Sakura says in confusion before grabbing a piece of tissue from the side of the couch to begin wiping her face.

"Sarada, Sasuke and Itachi are brothers."

The Uchiha heiress gaped at her mother with her mouth wide open, and a mix of feelings rushed through her at the same time.

Itachi killed the clan..

.. And he's dad's brother?

 _Uncle Itachi?_ Sarada spoke in her head.

If that was true, then Itachi is definitely still alive in this time-point. Hell, he could even be alive back in her world and she had no idea.

Whatever it was, she needed to see him.


	8. Interlude: Some Bonds Never Die

The raven-haired boy took note of his surroundings after letting the force gently place him down onto what seemed like mid-air, his cape slowly starting to dissipate from its rapid flowing from the strong wind. His pupils darted from side to side, observing nothing but white space all around him. After taking a few moments to absorb the air around him, he shut his eyes triumphantly and grinned.

"I should've known this whole time-travel thing was yours." He calls out into the nothingness with a defiant tone.

"Nice to see you too." As expected, he earns a reply from the anonymous voice inhabiting the white space.

"I'd say the same, but I can't see you." Sasuke states nonchalantly with a hint of sarcasm. He continues. "I've seen this scroll before. You sent it somewhere, right before our battle."

"You should be proud of yourself, Sasuke."

The onyx-eyed boy opened his eyes, raising an eyebrow. "It's not that hard to connect."

"Not that." The voice says, continuing on after a slight pause. "She looks like you."

Oh, Sarada.

".. And she called me a creep."

He couldn't help but display a small smirk at that remark. It did seem like something she would say.

"Who's the woman?"

"Haruno Sakura."

"Ah.. The girl who managed to defeat Sasori." The voice says. "Why am I not surprised?"

The two of them were comfortable with the following silence of acknowledgment, until the raven-haired boy remembered to speak again. "So what, you live in here now?"

"You know better than to show up here, Sasuke. But I assume you came to seek out some answers as well."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, revisiting the events during their dinner that led to this whole time-travel gimmick. "What has she seen?"

"Well," The voice started with no hesitancy. "Your insane ass almost killed her."

Immediately, he felt his heart drop. Even though he knew this was bound to happen if she continued travelling.

"What did she see?" He repeats, instigating for more details as he furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't get a reply this time, so he continued on.

".. Is there any way I can see her?"

"You're worried." The voice confirms. "That's good. Means you finally have people to protect."

The smiling faces of his daughter and the pink-haired girl immediately popped into his head; the family he never had as an adolescent. "Answer me."

"You can't. You should know better how screwed up things could get if you suddenly appeared."

"I almost _killed_ her." Sasuke emphasized, this time directing his statement more to himself. He reminisced his dark past, the countless times he's met with his teammates fallen to the point where there was barely any return. He couldn't bear to think about the harm he was able to do to his daughter.

"It's not like you can go back and change how you were. You were fallen, Sasuke." The voice says, reading his mind. "What matters now is that she's safe, from the past you. She'll be okay."

Sasuke pulled an expression of disbelief. Even so, he knew better than to trust his past self. "How do you know that?"

"Do you think she's going to go rogue or something?" The voice says. "She may look like you, but she's nothing like how you ever were."

The onyx-eyed boy displayed a light sigh and closed his eyes, be it in annoyance but more so in acknowledgment. "She gets it from Sakura."

"Well then. Good to know she inherited more from the better of you two."

Sasuke scowled at the bold statement.

"More importantly.. She's come to find out about the truth, right?"

"She's 15."

"She looks stronger than that." The voice said. "Her dad almost killed her and she's pulled herself together to find out more. She's not giving up."

 _Sarada did?_ Sasuke thought, unable to imagine what she could possibly be thinking at this moment. He remembered the time when he himself had found out about everything- his clan, his brother.. "She's not.. ?"

"Of course she's shaken over it. It's not something light."

He had to admit, the Uchiha's were quite the sociopaths. But if there was anything Sarada could do that was different from the rest of his clan, it was this. Almost immediately, his thoughts wandered back towards his wife, and suddenly he felt a surge of rightness that she was the one he married. She never gave up on him either, after all.

"You should go back, Sasuke. I'll take care of her.. and she'll come home to tell you all about it." The voice said one last time in attempt for reassurance.

"In fact, I'll be meeting her soon."


	9. Rewind III: You, Who Gave it All (Pt2)

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: Sarada slowly uncovers more of the truth as she stumbles upon her mother again in the Sand Village. After finding out about Itachi and the Massacre, she is determined to continue on with her journey. Meanwhile, Sasuke is up to something back in Konoha, which results in his meeting with the mysterious voice in the white space..

A/N: I HAVEN'T GIVEN UP! Just have less time and more writer's block. Stay tuned!

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

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 **Journey Back In Time**

Rewind III: You, Who Gave it All (Pt. 2)

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She had woken up way earlier than the pink-haired girl lying beside her in the small bed they slept in. The sun was just making its way out of its hiding, slowly creeping up from behind the cement houses and bumpy plains of the sand village. Strangely enough, there were people already roaming outside despite how early it was.

The Uchiha heiress withdrew her gaze from the circle-shaped window beside their bed. She sat herself upright on the mattress, leaning her back against the wooden headboard of the bed. She couldn't get much sleep last night, and it was evident in her newly formed eyebags.

Her gaze wandered over to the thin metal bracelet on her wrist, which looked like it hadn't even gotten a scratch.

 _It hasn't prompted me to go back yet._ She thought, despite the fact that she spent a night at this time-point. It was good, though. Now that her mind was a bit more clear, she wouldn't go back even if it forced her to. Not until she figured everything out.

"What's that?"

Sarada jumped in her spot, slightly startled at the sudden voice breaking the silence in the room. She shifted her attention to the pink-haired girl beside her, who was still lying down on her side, but looking up at her with a nonchalant expression from her wake.

"Just a bracelet." Sarada smiled.

"Did someone give it to you?"

"Sort of.." She trailed off, unsure of what to say. "It's kind of the reason why I'm here, with you guys."

Sakura looked puzzled. "Do you have someone you want to find?"

Lost for an answer, the Uchiha heiress tried to imagine the face of her uncle, but there was absolutely nothing that even her wildest imagination could make up. She knew nothing about him. Instead, a picture of her father popped up in her head.

"More or less." She replied, unsure if that was a good thing to say.

"Well, I hope you find whoever it is soon." Sakura said as she slowly sat herself up from her lethargic position and ran her fingers over her tousled hair. Her expression turned sullen. "People must be worried about you back in Konoha. You showed up so randomly. Do you need us to send a message over to your family so they know you're with us?"

Frankly, she definitely would like to send a message to her parents back at home. She wondered how long it has been since they discovered her not being at home. Mom must be pretty mad. And who knew what Dad had to say about it.

"Er, no." Sarada shook her head. "They're alright."

Sakura chuckled lightly. "Okay. If it were my mom, she'd beat me to a pulp if I went missing for too long."

Sarada couldn't fight the smile on her face. It was definitely something her grandma would do.

"I hope you find him soon too." The Uchiha heiress whispered, answering her mother's earlier statement. She was responded with a benevolent smile, but she could still sense the sadness in the pink-haired girl's viridian eyes.

"Let's get up. We should get ready." Sakura jolted up from her resting position and swung her feet onto the cold floor. She gave herself a hard push on the mattress and helped herself up, shuffling her feet into her indoor sandals.

Sarada responded with a silent nod, but continued to sit in the bed and returned her gaze out the window.

* * *

The six of them, including Chiyo and Pakkun expertly navigated their way through the tall, lanky trees of the northern forest. They were still far from the Akatsuki hideout, but at the pace they were going at, they should be arriving in no time soon.

"Naruto, can I ask you something?" Sakura inquired, earning a nod from the blonde as she broke the silence of the group.

"How long has the Akatsuki been after you?"

The Uchiha heiress shifted her attention to the newly brought up conversation. _Uncle Naruto was targeted by the Akatsuki?_ She thought, narrowing her eyes. _Then that means.._

Naruto looked as if he was in deep thought, but eventually closed his eyes in defeat. "I don't know."

 _.. He had the Kyuubi?_

"Two members of Akatsuki once came to Konoha in an attempt to capture Naruto." Kakashi informed, letting Sarada's ears perk once more. "That was three years ago, and now they're moving again."

"Was it Itachi?" The Uchiha heiress asked with no hesitation.

"One of them, yes." Naruto replied, shifting his gaze to meet Sarada's dark orbs. "I thought you didn't know who the Akatsuki were.. Do you know him personally, Sarada-chan?"

She raised a finger to adjust her glasses. "I don't." At least that was the truth.

"Well, there's no way they're going to get Naruto." Sakura continued. "The Akatsuki may be strong, but our forces have gotten a lot stronger than before."

"Why exactly is the Akatsuki doing this?" Sarada inquired again, wanting to know more about the group her murderous Uncle was associated with. "I know they want to create something bad.. But how did they become like this?"

"We don't know for sure." Kakashi replied this time, and all heads turned back to him. "They have their own ideas of wanting to change the world. They're all rogue ninjas, but we don't know who got them like that."

Naruto let out a small chuckle to himself. "Heh. They won't have a chance to change the world or whatnot, not with me becoming Hokage real soon."

His remark earned a smile from the Uchiha heiress. She felt warm inside knowing that she resonated the exact same feelings as the future Hokage, the burning desire of her dream.

Meanwhile, the pink-haired girl let out a large sigh. "That's going to be a while from now, Naruto. Not with everything going on. Besides, don't you want to get married and have kids first?"

Immediately, everybody paid close attention to the blonde, awaiting curiously for his reply. Sarada immediately found this amusing.

"Eh..." Naruto squinted his eyes. His imagination wandered off to a scene where the future pink-haired girl would yell at him every morning and beating him to a pulp because he wanted to sleep in. "Not really."

 _Really?_ Sarada blinked. "Not even one?"

"Hn..." The blonde sank back into deep thought of mini-him's with pink hair running around the house, threatening to attack him if he didn't stay to play with them longer. "Heh.. I think I'm okay for now. Besides, all I want to do is become Hokage first!"

"But don't you want a kid that's just like you? Who looks up to you?" Sarada pressed. She was starting to feel a bit of frustration.

Naruto took a moment and paused. After a few seconds, he started again. "Nah. But I _am_ going to become the number one ninja in the world so everybody looks up to me!"

Immediately, her expression turned into a large scowl.

"That's all you ever think about, Naruto." Sakura commented, shaking her head. "Really, maybe you should focus on becoming a Jounin first. And starting a family before you drown yourself in work."

"Well.." The blonde began. "I want to make my Hokage dream come true first. Then I can marry a super hottie and-"

"You think it's okay to put family second like that?"

The group turned to look at the Uchiha heiress, confused at the sudden fierceness in her tone.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, adopting a puzzled look. "Sar-"

"Being Hokage doesn't give you the excuse to neglect your family!" She burst, clenching her fists to the point where her nails were digging into the palm of her hands. "You made Boruto suffer so much because of your selfishness!"

A wave of silence broke out in the air with nothing but their shuffling movements being heard.

"Bo..ruto?" Naruto said slowly, letting the name linger against his breath. Sarada covered her mouth in dismay, but in a few seconds, Naruto's expression became more serious.

"Sarada-chan. You may not know this, but there's nothing I want more than to have a family." He said, his voice much stronger and stern than earlier.

Sarada took a large gulp and refused to look at her uncle Naruto's face. She had let her emotions take her over again at the thought of her other blonde friend. The countless nights where he would run away from home and sit at the small park in the corner of the village, the place where she would always manage to find him and he would act all tough about his family whenever she asked. In reality, she knew what was up. If anything, she was the same.

Naruto took his gaze off of the Uchiha heiress and stared at the ground below him, which was only a blur.

".. I don't know if it'll be like this years from now, but I don't want to bring my kids into this world we're in. Not where the nations are still not at peace and people have yet to save their own comrades." He says in a melancholy tone, his mind displaying the silhouette of his raven-haired friend's turned back. Sakura bit her lip at the blonde's words.

Naruto's gaze quickly darted back to Sarada, who was still reluctant to make eye-contact.

"That's why I have to become Hokage first. So to answer your question, Sarada-chan, no. I don't want a kid that's _just_ like me." Naruto darted. "My kid is going to live in a world much better than mine, than _this_. And I'm going to make it for not just him, but all of Konoha's people."

Immediately, Sarada felt her heart sink to her stomach. At this moment, she felt very small. For a girl with big dreams, she felt like she had too little of a heart. She was definitely not able to measure up to her Uncle Naruto right now, not like this.

Her mind wandered to her own father and the countless nights he spent away from her and her mother.

Was he creating a better world for her, too?

"Stop."

Abruptly, Kakashi broke the tense atmosphere and darted back to the ground in a quick halt. His team members followed him closely until he shot his arms out from either side of him, stopping the group from further movement.

"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura started, walking closer towards the silver-haired man. "What-"

Immediately, she froze as her gaze followed her sensei's eyes towards the largest tree in front of them. She felt an enormous amount of chakra hidden behind it, one that she recognized from before.

In a split second, a dark figure revealed itself from it's hiding, disclosing a man in a long black cloak with a slashed headband across his forehead.

The Uchiha heiress widened her eyes as the man slowly walked his way out of the tree with his sideview completely exposed to the six of them, his bright red crimson eyes prominent. As he moved to his last step, he shifted his body towards the group, his eyes now fully locking in with her own.

"Uchiha Itachi." Naruto whispered, clenching his fists in anger.

Sarada's heart nearly stopped beating. The man before her was one she'd never seen before. The person who killed her entire family... _their_ entire family. On a whim, she took her time in scanning his features. His hair was jet black just like hers, and he had the same strong stance as her father.

No doubt, they were definitely related. This was her Uncle.

"Careful." Kakashi says, immediately activating his Sharingan. "His visual prowess is more powerful than mine."

Sarada didn't care. She continued to stare at him dead-on.

"He must be here to stop us." Sakura said under her breath, just loud enough for everybody to hear.

The six of them stood in silence, on-guard and maintaining a defensive stance in the presence of the Akatsuki member. Suddenly, Naruto flinched as the elder Uchiha slowly began to raise one of his arms up in front of him.

"Hey, what-"

The girl with the red glasses took a small gulp as she realized her Uncle was holding out his palm straight at her, his fingers curling as if he was about to grab something in the air.

Kakashi widened his eyes, knowing what he was planning to do. "SARADA, GET OUT OF TH-"

Her feet remained frozen, despite the fact that she also knew he was about to pull her into a genjutsu. In mere seconds, she felt her body being tugged against her will.

The sound of her mother's voice yelling her name was the last thing she heard before she was completely sucked in by her Uncle's technique.

* * *

The next time her eyes blinked, she was no longer in the forest with her mother and the rest of her team. She shifted her body side to side in a defensive motion, keenly observing her surroundings. She felt like she was in a completely different world. It looked like an old, empty town, and the sky was dark and relenting.

Her head was pounding, and although her mind was ready for whatever was coming, her body wasn't.

 _Where is he?_ Despite her desire to search for her Uncle, her legs were shaking. He was here, somewhere in this genjutsu with her.

All of a sudden, she detected a large wave of a fearsome chakra immediately curling behind her. It was much stronger than the one her father had when she met him in the previous time-point.

She took a large, slow gulp. Trying not to make any sudden movements, she carefully began to turn her head to the side, just enough so that she could make out the presence from her peripheral vision.

As anticipated, Uchiha Itachi stood right behind her, his crimson eyes still bright as ever as they practically stared into her soul. When her orbs met his, she nearly wanted to collapse her feet.

And as if he had been expecting her, the elder Uchiha displayed a slight curve at the corner of his lips that could pass off as a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Sarada."


	10. Interlude: Our Dads

A/N: A special Boruto/Sarada interlude this time! Takes place sometime in Sarada's life before she discovered the time-travel technique (like a flashback interlude). For cute and funsies, not particularly related to the storyline but a little bit to the last chapter. Since she's busy in her time-point, I didn't want to just go ahead to the next chapter with nothing in between.

.. Now I really wish I made Boruto come along with Sarada in this journey (I just got super inspired by myself T _T)

* * *

The Uchiha heiress and the blonde sat in the dango shop across from Ichiraku, sitting across from eachother as they munched on their newly bought sweets. The two of them, along with Mitsuki, had just finished a mission.

Mitsuki had abandoned them to go elsewhere, leaving the two to fend for food by themselves. They couldn't decide where to eat, so in the end, they could only come up with dessert.

The tiny blonde quickly finished swallowing his last bite of his second piece of dango before he began to speak. "Hey, did you hear? Rumor has it that the feudal lords want to gather a new group of elite ninjas to facilitate the country's super-political matters!"

"Woah!" Sarada exclaimed, struggling to stuff down the bite she had took of her strawberry dango. "Who do you think is going to be the leader?"

Boruto gave her look as if she had just asked the most ridiculous question in the world. "Obviously it's going to be my dad."

"What?" Sarada retorted, clearly looking offended. "If anything, it's _my_ dad."

"That's impossible."

"And why is that?"

"Because." Boruto started, allowing a huge smirk to creep onto his face. "My dad's cooler."

Sarada scoffed in awe. "Your dad isn't the one with a super awesome bloodline. Besides, have you even seen when Sasuke activates Susano'o"?

"Yeah? Well, my Dad and I both have a cooler chakra than you and Uncle Sasuke!"

"That may be so, but he can still wipe him right out."

"He's the Hokage, though."

"My dad could've been the Hokage if he wanted to, too."

Boruto furrowed his eyebrows and scowled.

"Well," He paused for a second to think. "M-My dad has better connections with the villagers! He used to go to Ichiraku everyday!"

"YEAH?" Sarada practically shouted, causing Boruto to flinch back a little in surprise. She soon retreated and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out for a brief moment. "My dad goes on missions a lot to.. Uh, to do _good_ things!"

"My dad.." Boruto started. ".. My dad doesn't come home a lot because.. Um.. He does good, _important_ Hokage-things!"

"My dad does more important things than your dad!"

"Nah, my dad has way more important things to do."

"Okay, like what?"

"Well, um.. You tell me first!"

"I asked you first."

At that moment, the two of them stared at eachother, attempting to read eachother's eyes. Soon, both of their fiery expressions began to disappear, replaced by tinges of sadness.

"Both of our dad's have important things to do... None of which includes us." Sarada said, almost in a whisper. The blonde stared down at his lap with sullen eyes.

Boruto spoke. "So is this really the battle of who has the worst dad?"

The two then exchanged glances with eachother, letting a few seconds pass by before both of them suddenly roared in huge laughter. After getting a good chuckle, their laughs slowly faded, allowing them to relax again.

"Hey, Sarada." Boruto started. "How much do you know about Uncle Sasuke?"

Sarada felt her heart drop, and she really wishes it hadn't. It didn't seem like it should.

"You mean other than the fact that everyone tells me he's a hero of the village, yet he's never home more than half the time?" She sparked, feeling a pang in her chest again. "No.. Not a lot."

She cocked her head to the side at the blonde. "What about you?"

Boruto practically wore the same expression as her. "All I know is that he seems to care for the village, but not his own son."

Ah, the irony.

"We don't really know a lot about our dad's, do we?"

The blonde shook his head, but agreeing with his friend's rhetorical question.

Suddenly remembering something, Sarada beamed and leaned forward at Boruto. "Hey, guess what?"

Boruto raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Sarada leaned in further until she was practically off the bench. She wore a huge smirk on her face. "I heard Uncle Naruto used to have a giant crush on my mom for several years."

"WHAT?" Boruto retorted, closing his mouth immediately after realizing that the customers in the store were all staring at him. After looking around at them, he returned his gaze to the Uchiha heiress and lowered his voice to a strong whisper. "Oh god, what the heck?! Your mom is seriously wack sometimes!"

Sarada immediately burst out in laughter because it was so true. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like if Naruto was married to her mom. All hell would break loose.

Boruto grinned at his friend's reaction, then paused. ".. I actually heard that your mom and Uncle Sasuke have a super complicated, romantic love story."

"Oh?" Sarada continued to smile in amusement.

".. But there were also rumors that he liked men."

"Seriously!?" This time, both Sarada and Boruto bursted out in laughter. Uchiha Sasuke was so emotionless that he could really pass off as swinging in the other direction. Who knew if he liked girls.

After taking a moment to cool down from his laughter, Boruto wiped a tear from his cheek and let out a large sigh. "I guess we just have a lot to figure out about our dads."

The Uchiha heiress grinned. She couldn't agree more.


	11. Rewind III: You, Who Gave it All (Pt3)

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: Sarada manages to get in on the Kazekage Rescue Mission in her latest time-point. As the group makes their way towards the Akatsuki hideout, the Uchiha heiress squabbles with Naruto, until they encounter someone she's been looking for the entire journey.

A/N: Whoo, lots of information going on.. But it's okay! I have the rest of the story planned out already, so everything should be smooth sailing from here on out :)

Sorry, if you find anything off or wrong, let me know! I'm clumsy and might miss/misinterpret some things. Thanks for those who have helped me out along the way! Enjoy.

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

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 **Journey Back In Time**

Rewind III: You, Who Gave it All (Pt. 3)

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Her legs were still shaking at his mere presence. Immediately, she shifted herself around so that she was now fully facing him at the front. She took long, staggered breaths, trying hard to keep her composure. She had to remember that this man was ruthless and is capable of anything.

"Itachi." She said his name out loud in a defiant tone, the syllables sounding weird on her tongue now that she was actually matching it to a face. Suddenly, she took a moment and paused. _Wait. How does he know my name already?_

"How do I know your name?" The elder Uchiha says, startling her by practically reading her mind. He slowly inched his way towards her until he was only a meter away before he slightly leaned into her, causing her to push herself behind. "I always know the name of the person I'm going to kill next."

Sarada let out a brief gasp and took a large step back, allowing her legs to give in as they crashed to the ground. She used her arms to hold her body up as her eyes stared at Itachi as if she were a deer in headlights.

"Kidding." The elder Uchiha suddenly said, his expression still nonchalant. He continued to stare at her, and saw that she had a rather confused look on her face. "I kid. Sometimes, when I'm not running around on a massacre, I attempt humor."

"Is this some kind of joke to you?" Sarada spat out of her gritted teeth. She narrowed her eyes further, studying his face more closely. God, he looked too much like her father.

Come to think of it, the more he spoke, the more he sounded familiar. Has she met him before?

 _No, it's.._

"It's you." She whispered, coming to a realization as she slowly helped herself up from the ground while Itachi's eyes followed her movements meticulously. ".. You're the creep inside that white space. How? What-" Sarada stopped, interrupted by a wave of questions. "You already know me. Are you from the future? You're still alive?"

She earned no response to satisfy her curiosity. A bit frustrated, she continued to press. "You _are_ my uncle, aren't you?"

"We can talk somewhere else, Sarada." Itachi finally said, raising an arm once more and causing the Uchiha heiress to instinctively shut her eyes as he shifted into a different Genjutsu.

* * *

The Uchiha heiress darted her eyes open, noticing that the two of them were now at a completely different place. Contrary to the previous Genjutsu, this one was much more bright and life-like. They were in a tall, forest area with a large riverbank flowing in front of them. The water was sparkling from the sun's rays hitting the surface, and the fish were swimming rapidly as they moved along with the crashing waters against the rocks.

Sarada paid little attention to the scenery, despite the fact that it was rather beautiful. Her gaze immediately shifted towards her uncle, who was already making himself comfortable by sitting on a large log in front of the river.

"How do you know me already?" She asked again. "Why are you in the white space?"

Before she gave him a chance to reply, she started to observe his features once more. He looked tired, and worn out. Instinctively, she noted the dark circles under his eyes.

".. You look old." She said with no hesitancy.

The elder Uchiha remained nonchalant, but slightly offended. "Sasuke was right. I don't know where your tongue comes from if not from your mother."

"You met with dad?" Sarada pressed, raising her voice at the question. "Did he come find me? Is he here?"

"Stop asking so many things at the same time." Itachi chastised. His eyes wandered and noticed that Sarada was still maintaining a defensive composure. "You can relax. I'm not going to try and hurt my only niece."

"You only have one mom and one dad." Sarada retorted harshly. "And aunt, uncle, cousin... So can you say that about the rest of your family?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes. Right off the bat. It looked like they weren't going to start off soft. "Okay. You've made it clear that you're here for a reason." The elder Uchiha moved one of his hands beside him and placed it on top of the log in a subtle motion. "Sit down. You don't have to put up a fight, because I'm going to answer all of your questions."

Sarada stared at her uncle in both suspicion and relief. She shifted her eyes from his hand on the log and his face, back and forth. Despite the fact that he could still be dangerous, there were just too many things that didn't add up.

"Okay." She sighed and took a deep breath, finally complying to take the seat. She made her way over to the spot and sat herself down, but leaving a considerable gap in between her and her uncle.

She stared at her feet, which were hanging loosely from touching the ground. Without making eye contact, she started talking. "Then, tell me first what happened to our clan."`

* * *

The atmosphere was thick as Sarada waited for an answer. The river continued to make loud, rushing noises, and the Uchiha heiress' attention was shifted back to her Uncle as soon as he began to speak.

"I assume you know about the tailed-beasts." He said. Sarada nodded, beginning to listen intently.

"A long time ago, there was an attack on Konoha by the nine-tailed fox." Itachi began. "There was a lot of damage, a lot of lives lost. And in the end, the leadership of Konoha believed that the Uchiha were behind the attack because of the Sharingan's ability to apparently control the beast. Ever since then, we were segregated into a corner of the village and were closely under surveillance by Konoha's people."

"That's crazy." Sarada interrupted under her breath, and finally, she darted her head to face her Uncle. "They had no proof!"

Itachi closed his eyes, and she took it as a message to keep listening.

"Your grandpa is Fugaku Uchiha. Your grandma is Mikoto." He noted how Sarada was mouthing the names to herself. "Fugaku was the leader of our clan. And of course, the treatment of the Uchiha's caused an outrage."

This time, the elder Uchiha turned to look at his niece. Sarada searched his eyes, trying to anticipate what he was going to say, but she couldn't read him at all.

".. That was when he, along with other members of our clan, planned a coup d'etat to overthrow Konoha."

Immediately, Sarada's eyes widened. _A Coup run by the Uchiha?_

She had no idea everything was a lot more political than she'd thought, or that her family had such a tense affiliation with the officials. It was no wonder she was so famous back in her Konoha.. All those whispers and compliments, they were for a reason.

"Then?" she whispered, urging him to continue.

"Fugaku ordered me to enter the ANBU to act as a spy.. But what he didn't know was that I was also leaking the Uchiha's plans to Konoha." Itachi said. "A compromise-"

"So you didn't agree with it then?" Sarada interrupted again, this time more abrupt. Her eyes were serious in anticipation, her two black orbs digging deep into his own. "The coup.. You didn't want to do it?"

She sounded as if she had expected a right answer from him. Her eyes held onto him, and he could tell that she was hoping it wouldn't be otherwise.

Itachi let a few moments pass before he finally answered. "I didn't believe in it."

Immediately, Sarada let out a large sigh, almost as if she had been holding her breath. For some reason, she felt relief.

"The Curse of Hatred meant nothing to me. I lived by the Will of Power; a coup would only lead to a full-scale war resulting in too many sacrifices."

"Curse of hatred?"

"The Curse of Hatred," Itachi started again, "is what's responsible exclusively for the Uchiha's savage ways. When we experience something immensely painful, our love immediately turns into a strong hatred that could spiral into ultimate darkness, thus creating the most advanced form of Sharingan."

Sarada's thoughts ran back to when her father had almost killed her in that past time-point. It was still hard to believe that the dad who would hold her to sleep on nights where she was too awake and is always on journeys doing good deeds for Konoha could turn into someone so unfamiliar. It wasn't long before she was able to put two and two together. This was definitely because of the Uchiha's curse.

"The curse was originally shown by our ancestor, Indra, and was considered counterpart to the Will of Fire. Eventually, it went down generation by generation, continued by its descendants." Itachi explained. "The Uchiha clan was always at heads with the Senju clan over these two ideals. It's what ultimately lead to the wall between our clan and Konoha."

But, she had activated her Sharingan too, didn't she? If that was true, why hadn't she experienced it through that same hatred?

Sarada began again. "So if you followed the Will of Fire, then why did the massacre happen?"

"When I entered the ANBU as a spy, they didn't know that I had been leaking the Uchiha's plans to Konoha's side at the same time. I was essentially a double agent."

Itachi continued. "An elder of Konoha, Danzo, suggested to eliminate the entire Uchiha clan. He gave me an ultimatum. I could either let the coup happen, risking Sasuke's life.."

He took a long pause before finishing his sentence. But he didn't have to.

".. Or kill them yourself.. And spare dad. " Sarada's mouth hung wide open, but she was quick to finish his sentence. Her brain was working fast. "You did this for dad."

The elder Uchiha gave a small nod.

"That night, I ran into who I thought was Madara, a legendary leader of the Uchiha who was betrayed by the clan, rival of the head of the Senju. He had plans for Konoha on his own, but eventually we went on to kill every single one of our people."

Sarada bit her lip at her uncle's words. She couldn't even imagine the depths to which he went through. As a double agent, shouldering all the burden onto himself, having to kill his family..

"It must've been hard." She said, almost in a small whisper. "Seeing everybody go, at your own hands."

Itachi closed his eyes, as if he was replaying the moments of bloodshed in his head.

"Sasuke's bore an immense hatred ever since then.. And he planned to release it all on me."

Sarada thought back to what her mother had told her before they left for the Akatsuki hideout. It's no wonder he had left the village, with the goal of killing his brother.

"That's why he went rogue." She confirmed aloud. ".. But how did you ever live after something like this?"

"I encouraged Sasuke to get stronger, to come after me for revenge." Itachi said. "I really hoped for an answer other than what I had to do. But in the end, if anyone was going to kill me.. It had to be him."

"What happened after the massacre, then? Did people find out about it?"

"No," He continued, "I went to see the Third Hokage. He eventually covered up the story so that the Uchiha's coup was completely sheltered from the villagers. To this day.." He paused. "It's not something that's publicized, at all."

Sarada felt her heart drop. It made sense, but it was so wrong at the same time. Immediately, she started to feel upset for him "And you?"

".. I acted alone. That's what they said."

 _That's terrible._ The Uchiha heiress thought, continuing to feel waves of pain for both her family and her Uncle. There was simply no justice served for him.. He was a pawn on both sides, but he was a lot more noble than she'd thought.

"After that, I joined the Akatsuki. Little does the group know that I'm monitoring their actions from the inside, as well."

"So does dad know the truth now? About everything?"

Itachi managed a tiny grin at the mention of his brother. "Yeah, he does."

It was undeniably hard to digest. The fact that she had an entire clan that she had never met, and now, there were only so few of them alive. She thought about the fact that Itachi must have really loved her dad. Despite everything that was going on, he made him one of his top priorities.

"Just remember this, Sarada." Itachi started again, taking note of her pondering face.

"In the end, no clan treasured love more than the Uchiha. Even if they didn't do it the right way."

At this, Sarada managed to pull up a smile.

"You didn't kill our family." She said in a low voice, earning Itachi's attention. "Ideology did. If anything, you're admirable, Uncle Itachi."

Itachi took a moment to absorb her words, but soon, a larger grin showed itself at the corner of his lips.

In a sudden motion, Sarada plopped herself off from the log and peered out onto the riverside. Itachi's eyes followed her in question.

"Don't worry, Uncle Itachi, because I have plans for myself." The Uchiha heiress said, shifting herself around and walked over so that she was now directly facing her Uncle. "I'm going to become the 8th Hokage. And when I do, I'm going to run Konoha exactly the way you would've liked it to be."

She waited for some kind of reaction from him, but received nothing in return. Little did she know, Itachi was shocked. At this very moment, she was like a light shining through the darkness, breaking all the hatred that ever boiled in the Uchiha. For a split second, he swears he could have seen the Will of Fire burning inside her chest.

Nothing made him more proud than the fact that his brother had such a wonderful daughter.

Trapped in his thoughts, Itachi still couldn't resist his automatic grin. "It's not the one who becomes Hokage that gets acknowledged by all," He decided to give his niece a word of advice, the same thing he once told Naruto. "It's the one acknowledged by all who becomes Hokage."

Immediately, Sarada understood Naruto's words from earlier. _"My kid is going to live in a world much better than mine, than this. And I'm going to make it for not just him, but all of Konoha's people."_

Everything started to come together. The reason why her uncle murdered the entire clan under the grip of ideology, the reason why her dad always goes on missions.. He, too, is trying to make a better world for her.

Sarada broke her train of thought as she remembered something that was off.

"Wait, you said that the Uchiha are bounded by the Curse of Hatred," She started, earning the attention of her uncle. ".. Doesn't that mean I should've been the same? I've activated my Sharingan, as well."

"Did you?" Itachi inquired rhetorically, "And how did that happen?"

Sarada thought back to the time where she and her father first met eachother. "Well, it was the first time I've ever seen dad."

At this, Itachi closed his eyes in acknowledgment. "You're definitely my brother's child."

The Uchiha heiress raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sarada. You activated your Sharingan through love."

The girl with the red glasses immediately flushed red. It was true, she was really happy to see him at that time, despite the fact that he mistook her as an enemy and was definitely ready to kill her.

"Did he leave for a long time?" She continued to ask, on the subject of her father. "Do you know when he came back to Konoha?"

Itachi paused for a long second before answering. He didn't know how to respond. ".. That's something you have to ask him when you get home. As well as his side of everything."

Sarada pouted. "I don't know if he'll tell me."

"I've heard my brother has become quite the man of few words." Itachi said. "He was very active and talked way more as a kid."

"I can't ever imagine that!" Sarada replied, giving a small chuckle to herself. "Dad? Playful and cheery? He's too serious all the time!"

"I'll tell you a secret, Sarada." He leaned over to his niece's ear and whispered something under his breath. After hearing it, Sarada widened her eyes in surprise and laughed. "I didn't know that! I'm going to try that next time-"

Immediately, her expression turned sullen. ".. Nevermind. I don't know if dad will even be home by the time I get back to the future Konoha."

"What do you mean?"

"He's never home." The elder Uchiha could tell that this was something she was deeply bothered about. "He does come home from time to time, but he always leaves for long periods to do important work."

"How inappropriate. Next time then, when he comes home, you should try what I've told you." Itachi chastised, earning a nod while she frowned.

"But knowing him, he's doing his own things to protect Konoha. I'm sure you know that."

Sarada managed to form her mouth into a smile. Two years ago, she would've still been complaining everyday about how her father never gave a damn about his family. But now, she knew. And it was true.

As time passed, the two of them continued to make themselves comfortable at the riverside of Itachi's Genjutsu, watching the sky that had quickly tinged-pink over the span of their talk.


	12. Rewind III: The First and The Last

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: After sitting down face-to-face with her uncle, the Uchiha heiress finally gets the answers she'd been looking for.

A/N: Long chapter! Initially wasn't going to turn this scene into a whole new chapter.. But here it is. It was sad for me to write T_T. Let me know that you think!

Only 2 interludes, 2 (or possibly 3) chapters to go! Reviews are appreciated!

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

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 **Journey Back In Time**

Rewind III: The First and The Last

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".. And then I'd always help mom whenever I got back from my duties. She makes really awesome tomato soup for dad!"

Itachi rested his elbows on either side of his leg while his head was turned, listening to every word the Uchiha heiress was saying. They had spent the last half hour after their previous conversation talking about life in the new Konoha.

"Sakura seems to take care of him very well." He said, pleased with the updates he received so far regarding the Uchiha family.

"Yeah, when mom and dad are together, sometimes they don't know, but I'll be peeking at them through my bedroom door when they're not paying attention." Sarada's face was filled with excitement. "Recently, I've even seen them kiss!"

At this, the elder Uchiha couldn't resist his grin. He continued to stare at his niece as she proceeded to speak with large arm movements, her facial expression changing with every word. He nodded at everything she said, absorbing them while his own thoughts roamed. Hearing these stories reminded himself of their own family, with Fugaku and Mebuki. They once had very happy moments just like the new Uchiha family. His expression alone wasn't enough to show how happy he was for his younger brother. The two of them had come a long way, and now that Itachi was gone, Sasuke had really found happiness and success in one, while carrying on the name of the Uchiha.

".. And that's why Boruto really looks up to Dad now, he's even taken him as a disciple! Everyone thought he'd want to be Hokage just like his dad!"

The unfamiliar name caught Itachi's attention. "Boruto?"

"Yeah, Uncle Naruto's son!"

 _Ah.. So Naruto had a kid now, too._ Itachi thought, pondering how times have really changed. _Wait.. Hokage?_

"Naruto has become the 7th?"

"Yep! Boruto also complains how his dad isn't really around, but Uncle Naruto and dad are always sneaking around having conversations with eachother. They seem to be more devoted to eachother than their wives!"

Surprisingly, Itachi let out a soft chuckle. He reminisced back to the times where Naruto would constantly drab about becoming the Hokage after saving Sasuke. His brother really was lucky to have a best friend like him.

"In fact, he's the one who took me to this old storage room where the time-travel scroll was hidden.." Sarada faded as she continued her speech. "Come to think of it, you didn't answer my question from earlier. Why were you in the white space? And how am I able to talk to you like this if you're from the past?"

This situation came along with another story. Itachi took a moment for himself in an attempt to think of the most condensed version as possible.

"The time-travel scroll was originally developed by Madara a long time ago." He started. "After he died during a conflict with his rival, Hashirama, he went into hiding and developed the scroll for future use. He was planning to use it to overwrite history between the Uchihas and the Senju clan by eliminating them once and for all, and to make it so that everyone lived in that past."

"Making a time-travel technique.. Is that even possible?"

"I'm not sure of the details myself. But he spent a long time creating it, almost as long as his second plan to destroy the world."

"So how did it get in your hands?"

"When Madara entrusted the scroll to a man named Obito, the scroll made its way to the Akatsuki. No one in the gang knew." Itachi said. "Except for me, of course. I eventually managed to steal it."

Sarada smiled. She didn't doubt her uncle's capabilities.

"I didn't approve of what Madara was planning to do with it. That's why I took it." He continued. "The scroll can only be open by the hands of a Uchiha, with only one use by a single person. Initially, I planned to save it for when I revealed the truth about the massacre to Sasuke."

"But you didn't."

".. No. Under a circumstance I was in, I sent the scroll back to Konoha for safekeeping away from the Akatsuki. I figured they wouldn't know what to do with it, but it appears that they've tried to decipher it many times." The elder Uchiha shifted his gaze towards the metal bracelet on his niece's wrist. Sarada followed his eyes. "I reckon they knew it could only be opened by the initiation of a specific person.. Seeing as they've gotten quite creative with it."

The Uchiha heiress placed a hand on the cold metal of the bracelet, giving him a shrug. "The ninjas weapon army. They really need to make improvements or something, cause this thing hurts like hell."

"Amateurs." Itachi shook his head, earning a chuckle from Sarada.

"But still, the white space?"

"Before I sent it off, I inserted something inside with a hidden jutsu. To make matters simple, I gave it a part of me." Itachi paused, hesitating to speak what was in his mind. _It's also what helped aggravate the disease during my last battle with Sasuke._

"That's why you can talk to me like this and see who enters the white space? Are you like the time-travel keeper or something?"

Time-travel keeper. It had a cheesy ring to it, but sure, Itachi accepted it. "You could think of it that way."

"So did dad enter the white space?"

".. He did. We had a nice little chat in your absence."

Sarada's expression faded. A wave of pain broke out in her chest. Although it was true that she knew her father had a brother, he spoke little of Itachi. But the one thing she did know was that along with the taboo subject of his sibling, she could tell that Itachi was someone he really missed. "But he couldn't see you, just like how I couldn't, right? I know he wants to see you."

At this, Itachi felt pain as well. During the time where he reincarnated and met Sasuke again, he really wished they could have started over again, living as how brothers should live. He thought back to when he saw Sasuke in the white space. Even though his brother couldn't see him, he himself saw Sasuke very well. It surprised him how different, yet the same he looked. He was much taller before, much more mature-looking, and he still resembled being a member of the noble Uchiha.

There were countless times where he tried to think of a different solution for them, one that didn't involve a massacre. But at that time, there really was no better choice for him. After that, he was pretty much absent for the rest of his brother's life. He'd spend his nights in Akatsuki wondering what became of him, how he was growing up, who his friends were...

Sarada managed to read the hurt expression on her uncle. He really was good at hiding his feelings, just like Sasuke, but this was one where she was able to see through.

"It's okay, Uncle Itachi." She said, wearing a smile on her face in an attempt to comfort her family member. "Even though you've hurt dad, he's had happy moments in his life!"

The elder Uchiha simply stared at his niece.

"In my first time-point, I spent time with mom, dad and Uncle Naruto in their Genin days." She said, "Although I don't know how or when dad left the village, I can tell the three of them were really happy together. In fact, people back at the future Konoha always told me that they really believed the three of them were inseparable, no matter what happened."

Sarada beamed in pride as she continued. "Besides, he has me and mom! He's like a total rock sometimes, and sometimes our family has fights just like how we did before I came here. But I know he loves us, and I miss my parents a lot while I'm time-travelling. Mom and I will always be there for him even though he leaves us often."

Sasuke really was blessed.

".. And dad is going to be really happy when he sees you've come home with me!"

Itachi's heart nearly dropped a thousand craters at her statement.

"Thank you, Sarada." He managed to force out of his mouth, forming a weak smile at the corner of his lips.

Almost as if on cue, Sarada suddenly felt a burning sensation beginning to take place on her wrist. She made a small gasp at its sudden onset and flinched back, earning Itachi's attention. The elder Uchiha gazed at her wrist, which was starting to become red. The two of them exchanged glances. They knew, it was almost time.

"Sarada. You said you missed your parents, right?" He said as his niece stared at him with a puzzled expression. "I'm going to show you something."

In the next moment, Itachi raised his arm again, his palm facing the Uchiha heiress. Almost immediately, the two of them were pulled into another place.

* * *

Though the technique took place fast, she could feel that it took awhile for them to actually arrive in the new setting. But once they arrived, the place was rather familiar to her. She knew that they were in Konoha, but this specific era was unique to the one she lived in, in the future. She could tell because of the new skyscrapers present behind the Hokage stone faces, particularly the one with Uncle Naruto's face plastered on it.

"Uncle Itachi." She darted her gaze towards the elder Uchiha, who stood beside her and looked like he was in deep thought. "W-We're in _my_ Konoha."

Itachi gave her a nod. "This is Konoha right now, as we speak."

"Are we back home?"

He was about to open his mouth to answer, but before he had the chance, Sarada caught sight of two people she'd been longing to see.

"Mom! Dad!"

Itachi peered behind him, to where the Uchiha heiress was looking. As he turned around, he caught sight of a tall, raven-haired man walking beside a girl with vibrant, viridian eyes. No doubt, he knew the familiar face of his brother and his fellow kunoichi partner.

As the couple started closer towards the time-travellers, Sarada ran over to meet them halfway.

"Mom, Da-"

To her dismay, she stood to the side as the two of them completely walked past her, not acknowledging her even with a single glance. She wondered what was going on and immediately turned to her uncle for an answer, who was still standing in his original spot.

"They can't see you." He explained. "It kind of defeats the point of coming here, but you can see them. You're not really home, I just shifted time into your future." _It's a difficult technique to do, but somehow we managed to arrive alright.._

"Oh.." Sarada's smile faded as her gaze subsequently followed her parents, who were now walking inside the dango shop they frequented on days where Sasuke was free. "Let's go, then."

Her feet shuffled over to the shop, urging Itachi to follow along, in which he did. When the two of them reached the large curtain folds of the entrance, she moved them out of her way to let herself in. Itachi followed closely behind, until they reached the table her parents were sitting at.

The store was rather empty, it seemed like it was down-time. It was perfect.

"I really hope to god that Sarada is okay." Sakura says, burying her hands into her face as the waitress seemed to have just left with their menus. After a few seconds, she lifted it up again, staring at her husband with sullen eyes. "Were we wrong, Sasuke? Should we have just told her sooner?"

Sasuke remained silent for a few seconds. Thousands of thoughts ran through his head at the same time, and he pondered that question every single night since Sarada was away. Finally, he spoke. "I was afraid."

At this, Sarada paid extra attention to her father's subsequent words. Itachi also listened closely as they hovered near their table.

".. I don't want her to follow in my footsteps. When I learned of my family, the curse was already taking place inside my heart.."

 _The Curse of Hatred._ Sarada repeated in her head, remembering what Itachi had told her. She suddenly understood her parents' worries, how it would eventually engulf her as well.

"I'm not ready to let that happen." Sasuke continued, slowly closing his eyes in deep thought.

".. She's precious to me."

The Uchiha heiress felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She bit her lip, trying not to release her emotions at this moment. Everybody knew her dad was a man of few words, so whenever he says something like this.. It really means a lot.

Her uncle could tell that she was trying not to cry. He gave a small benevolent smile, silently praising himself on the inside for giving her the glimpse of this moment. She was going to be home soon, where she could give them a reply on everything that's happened.

"You said Itachi was in the white space?" Sakura inquired, and Itachi looked at her once he heard his name being mentioned.

Sasuke responded with a nod. "The scroll definitely belongs to the Uchiha. I don't know about the details."

"Did he say anything about Sarada? Does she know who he is?"

The raven-haired man pondered for a moment, thinking of what to report to his wife. His mind traced over him and Itachi's conversation in the white space. He decided to leave out the part that he almost killed her, for now. "He said she was willing to continue with the travel. To see more."

Rather than angry, Sakura looked surprised, just as how Sasuke was when he found out the same thing.

".. And, she called him a creep."

While Sakura bursted out in laughter, Sarada immediately darted her gaze towards her Uncle with a pout. "You told on me!"

Itachi let out a little laugh, letting her proceed with a rant on his tattle-taling. In this moment, there was a bittersweet atmosphere of bonding that surrounded the four of them, almost as if they were physically together as an entire family.

"They would have gotten along in a very interesting way." Sakura said, her laugh fading out. "That is, if he didn't.."

A sudden tense air broke out in the stall, and Sarada had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"If you didn't what? What are they talking about?" She turned to her Uncle, grabbing hold of one of his sleeves almost in desperation. He looked down and they exchanged looks for a brief moment before Sarada suddenly flinched.

"Ow!" The Uchiha heiress released her grip on her uncle and immediately placed her hand on her wrist, where her metal bracelet started to burn harder until she was groaning in pain.

Widening his eyes at the depths of her pain, Itachi raised his palm, switching settings in a mere half second. _It's time._

Sarada didn't have time to observe the quick change, but they were back on the riverbank. Her eyes were still set on her Uncle, demanding an answer. "You're coming back with me, right? I know you want to be with dad again!"

Itachi simply stood, holding her strong gaze. The next few minutes were going to be a lot harder for him than he'd thought.

Sarada became more and more frustrated at her uncle's silence. There was simply no time. ".. Just come home with me! Dad's forgiven you! You can live with us in the way you've always wanted to live with him, you can taste mom's awesome tomato soup, you can keep me company when dad isn't here.." Her voice started to choke, and she was unable to control the tears that began to run down her cheeks.

"You're apart of our family." She whispered, her voice cracking as she forced the words out of her mouth.

At her words, Itachi felt like the world was crashing down at him. He wanted to come home, really, he did. He wanted to be home more than anyone else.

She continued to cry, louder this time. Instinctively, he took a step forward and reached his arms up to wrap them around his niece, pulling her into a gentle hug. The Uchiha heiress returned her uncle's hug with a tighter grip, burying her face into his shoulder.

Though she couldn't see his face, Itachi smiled, ready to confirm her thoughts.

"Sarada.. I died a long time ago."

The Uchiha heiress only continued to cry at her uncle's words. Part of her always held the possibility that he was already dead, but she really hoped it wasn't true. This moment felt too real, he felt too real, his hugs felt too real.

She proceeded to ask another question, although she was a hundred-ten percent sure of the answer already. "How?"

Itachi responded with nothing but silence, still holding her as she made small gasps between her tears.

"Dad did it." Sarada whispered under her breath.

"He didn't know the full truth until after I died." Itachi said. "But that's also something you have to ask him about, okay?"

The girl with the red glasses nodded, burying her face further into his cloak. Her bracelet was hurting her wrist. But in this moment, nothing pained her more than her uncle's words.

Naturally, she shifted herself out of his hug until the two of them met face-to-face again. "If you could visit the future, why haven't you come to see us?"

"I can't use the jutsu that often. The last time I did, Sasuke wasn't at the village, and you weren't born yet. Besides, no one can see me." He explained, giving her a tiny grin. "It's how I planned to watch over Sasuke, just like I promised. Now I know I don't have to do it that often because he's in the hands of two very capable women."

Through her tear-stained eyes and cheeks, Sarada managed to blush and return his smile. "So this is the last time I'll see you?"

"The first and the last."

The two of them peered at eachother for awhile longer until Sarada let out another loud groan. The bracelet continued to urge her resistance. She looked down at her wrist, and saw that some of her skin had started to peel. ".. I think this is the part where you're supposed to tell me to eat well, study hard, and listen to my parents?"

"I wouldn't listen to Sasuke if I were you, either. From your stories, he sounds like a pain." He said playfully. ".. But maybe to your mom. She's probably something to fear."

Sarada laughed, but gritted her teeth from the pain.

"But I am going to tell you this." Itachi slowly began to raise his hand, and she watched as it approached her with two pointed fingers until they landed their tips on the top of her forehead. She didn't blink as her head recoiled back a little from the tap of his fingertips. He left it there for awhile, and just when he had done it, her mind started to play images of the times her parent's would do the exact same thing.

"I'll always be watching over you and your family."

Sarada smiled, forcefully giving a quick nod in understanding. Her body could no longer resist, she had to let herself go. In a few seconds, she relaxed her limbs, feeling the harsh tug of wind on her limbs.

Her gaze was becoming more blurred, not from her tears, but from the current time-point beginning to disappear from her vision. She took one last glance at her uncle, who still retained his smile. He no longer felt the feeling of his finger on her forehead as she started to dissipate into thin air until she was completely out of sight.

 _"Mom, have you ever kissed dad?"_

 _"Huh?" The pink-haired girl widened her eyes in surprise, an obvious blush forming on her cheeks. She took a moment to think to herself, then answered with a silly chuckle._

 _The tiny Uchiha smiled at her mother's expression. "What is it?"_

 _"Oh, it's just.. I remembered he gave me something better than a kiss."_

 _"What's better than a kiss?"_

 _To her surprise, the viridian-eyed girl crouched down to her daughter's height and gave her a light tap on her forehead with her two fingers, earning a much confused look from her face._

 _"I'll tell you next time, okay?"_

Honestly, she never understood the significance behind the gesture that her parents were so fond of.

But in this very moment, she knew.

And it really is better than anything in the world.


	13. Interlude: Successful Endeavours

Sarada held her burning wrist, which still continued to feel the consequences of her resistance when she left her Uncle. She stood, by herself this time with no voice heard, in the white space that she had grown to accept as her quiet area in between time-points. Her tears had already dried, creating a tight feeling on her cheeks. But she didn't mind.

She stood in the body of whiteness, just waiting for whatever was to happen next. She didn't think anything, didn't say anything, didn't mind anything. Her mind was just blank.

Yet, she was smiling. A soft, benevolent, smile that reeked of acceptance. The last thing she felt before she left her time-point was that if her uncle were still alive, she might've been closer to him than with her own dad.

Finally, she remembered a thought. She was going to be home, back to her father who had the rest of the story. And she was more than ready for it.

The wind slowly began to tug on her, softly this time, and she let it take her as if it were a familiar friend.


	14. Rewind IV: Home

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: After being taken back to her future, Sarada's bracelet prompts her to change time-points. She learns about her uncle's death, and the two of them part on good terms. Sarada anticipates returning home.

A/N: Incoming longest chapter of the story... I didn't want to break the flow apart LOL. This chapter is largely inspired by my oneshot called "Home"! Lots of things will be similar if not the same. I just switched it up a bit to tailor to this story.

Canon with Sasuke Shinden. Enjoy!

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

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 **Journey Back In Time**

Rewind IV: Home

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Sarada peered skeptically at the scenery around her. Much to her dismay, it wasn't really what she expected. She had arrived in the midst of a rocky road along a flat plateau of land surrounded by an abundance of trees along the distance. She was rather confused, as the area gave no clue on where she had landed.

And the joyful part was, it was raining. Spit-hard rain in the middle of nowhere. Who knows where the people or buildings were. Nevertheless, her first instinct was to find her way back to the Leaf Village. As hard as that was going to be, she decided to try her best to ignore how wet her clothes had already gotten from standing in the same spot for only a few seconds. So, she started to run as fast as she could.

It wasn't long before nearly half an hour had passed, and she still wasn't getting anywhere remotely acceptable for her to take cover. Honestly, at this point, screw finding the village. It was cold, she was hungry, and her body was practically getting numb. She couldn't even feel herself running anymore, and it seemed like the scenery hadn't even changed no matter how hard she did. If she didn't come across anything soon, she was afraid she'd die before she would make it back home.

Suddenly, she felt a slight presence of chakra storming up from behind her. She must've failed to notice it sooner, but it didn't have a nice aura.

Just when she managed to turn her head around, she widened her eyes as her peripheral vision caught sight of someone right behind her, a giant fist in the air ready to knock her out. Summoning up all the energy she had despite her current condition, she twisted herself around and dodged their attack, jumping into the air and landing smoothly on the rocky road with a thud.

She kept a considerable distance, taking note of the unfamiliar man in front of her. He was a rather large individual, probably two times her size, and for some reason he had a defiant look on his face.

"Who are you!?" She waited for an answer. Just then, a devious smirk crept up on the man's face, and she realized that he wasn't finished. Suddenly, she took notice of someone else standing at a distance behind her. When she looked back, it was a thinner man with bad hair, and he already had his hands in a configuration. _Shit._

"Next target, captured." The thin man said, earning a nod of approval from the wider man, though her attention was fixed on the more recent enemy.

Sarada let out a tiny gasp from surprise. In nearly half a second, her entire body was wrapped in a long chakra rope that extended from the ground underneath the man to up her body.

She could feel him tightening onto the rope, which only made her weaker in combination from the numbness of the cold and how tired she was. Her head was starting to spin as she felt like her total body circulation and chakra storage were being cut off and drained. _Shit, I can't-_

However, just when she felt like she was going to give in, a rapid figure had raced by her face in the blink of an eye, going from one place to the next in a flash. Sarada blinked multiple times, trying to get her vision in tact. The next thing she knew, the two men were on the ground, screaming and clutching the wet dirt of the earth.

"N-No! NO! HELP!" One of them screamed, although she ran her gaze at the two of them again, only to see that nothing was wrong with them. "I-It's him." The other one said.

Sarada felt the chakra rope release itself around her until it dissipated completely. To her curiosity, she turned to the side to see "him". And to her surprise, her jaw was left wide open to see her father standing before her.

Suddenly, she knew that she was definitely _not_ home. She knew because his hair wasn't as long as the way she remembered it, and although he still had his long bangs that covered half of his face, the rest of his hair was still spiky in the back and didn't reach his shoulders. His facial features also looked slightly younger. The one familiar thing was that he was dressed in all black with the same long cape he always wore, though his clothes were of a different pair.

No doubt, this was another time-point.

It then occurred to her. He did look much older than when he was going crazy at the bridge. Either he was still insane, or this had to be post-war. And judging by the way he saved her.. She'd like to guess it was the latter.

Things made a lot more sense now. Sarada glanced over at the struggling two men once more, noting that her father was making his way towards the two of them. He had probably put them under a morbid Genjutsu.

At that moment, the raven-haired man lugged their bodies with a single grip of his hand around their collars, his strength surprising the Uchiha heiress. He turned his head around slightly and glanced at Sarada from the side, his crimson eyes locking in with her dark orbs.

"Be careful." He said. "These two are renown criminals for targeting girls like you."

"T-Thanks." Sarada didn't know what else to say. Honestly speaking, half of her was still cautious, and the other half was really happy.

Just then, Sasuke began to walk, taking the body of the two criminals with him. As he got further, Sarada peered around herself, then at her wet clothes. The rain had started to settle down a bit, but it wasn't enough for her to keep walking wherever she was walking. Not to mention the fact that it was also getting darker, and the trees were making shadows that began to spook her out. So, instinctively, she started to follow Sasuke from behind.

The raven-haired man noticed this of course, and shifted his eyes to the side. He didn't turn his head to look at the strange girl behind him. He stopped in his tracks for a second, and realized that she had also stopped. Once he started walking again, so did she. This went on for several moments, until finally, he gave a tiny sigh and shifted around to face her.

Sarada let out a tiny gasp, startled at her dad's sudden attention on her.

"Do you need something from me?" Sasuke asked cooly.

"N-No." He shifted his gaze to look her up and down, noticing that her clothes were soaking wet and that she was shivering like no tomorrow. He also realized that she was wearing a Leaf Village headband.

To Sarada's surprise, the next thing he did was that he swung off his cape from his shoulders, revealing himself in only a black long sleeve shirt and a black tapered pants. He dropped the two criminals from his hands and walked over to shove his cape at her. Reluctantly, she took it from his hands and stared at him as if she didn't know what to do with it.

Sasuke closed his eyes, almost as if he was annoyed. "Wear it and come."

Sarada gave a small nod, her heart pounding. She threw the cape around herself, ignoring the fact that it was too big for her tiny shoulders, and followed her father closely from behind.

* * *

After disposing of the two criminals at the village police, Sarada had confirmed for a second time that they indeed were not in Konoha. The houses were more simple and looked rather old, and there didn't seem to be many villagers around. She didn't even see the large wall of Hokage faces. Nevertheless, the two of them continued to walk. This time, Sarada found herself pacing along a narrow abandoned pathway alongside a tiny stream. The rain finally stopped, creating a gross mucky noise whenever she took her steps along the dirt path.

She walked with her dad in total silence, much like how she did during her first time-point when he was a Genin. For some reason, she had to try harder to conceal her identity whenever she was with him, maybe because she felt like he was way harder to connect to as a stranger. She wanted to question as to why his conversational skills hadn't improved at all, but then she remembered that this is what made her dad, her dad.

But still, why was he here in this town instead of the Leaf Village?

"I'm Sarada." She started, speaking in a loud, confident tone. She realized they didn't even introduce themselves. Props to her dad for staying in his business, right?

The raven-haired man simply turned his gaze to stare at her, and she gave him a look as if he had no choice to answer. Finally, he was defeated by the silence. "Sasuke."

"Are you from this town?"

"I'm just travelling."

She didn't remember her dad going on any travels, except for important missions in which he would leave her and her mother for several weeks. But the fact that she managed to come here meant that, obviously, she hadn't been born yet. Not to forget about how young he still looked.

From here on out, she figured this was a good opportunity to attempt more conversation. But just when she opened her mouth to speak, she noticed that they came to a stop right in front of a small cottage house with a dusty, red roof. She turned to look at the raven-haired man, who was already walking towards the door. "Do you live here?"

"For the time being." He said, much to her confusion. She watched as he reached towards the doorknob and opened the door slowly, stepping a single foot inside before he was greeted by a cheery old voice shouting from inside the house. "Welcome back, Sasuke-san!"

Sarada followed him from behind, closing the door on her way in. Her eyes immediately caught sight of a brightly lit home, a tiny living room present on her left side with a blazing fireplace set. The walls were decorated with picture frames and unique artworks, and there were lots of pottery scattered around for decoration. It seemed to be way cozier than her own home, much to her envy.

Suddenly, a tiny old woman appeared from what seemed like the kitchen doorway and trotted herself over to the two of them still standing at the door. After seeing Sarada with the help of her squinty eyes, she adopted a rather excited look on her face. "Oh! And who do we have here?"

"Sarada." The Uchiha heiress introduced herself once more, giving the tiny obaa-saan a smile.

"Call me Miho!" The grandma said as she slowly observed the features of her new visitor. "Oh my. You have such beautiful black locks! A relative of Sasuke-san, perhaps?"

The Uchiha heiress gave a nervous laugh, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. Sasuke just stared at her with a blank expression, observing their chatty observation. "No, we just met earlier on.. He saved me from a crisis."

"Going off hunting the criminals again!?" Miho darted her attention to the raven-haired boy, who stood looking as apathetic as ever, but slightly flinched at the grandma's loud voice. "Really! You should enjoy your time here in the Land of Waves while you can! Go to the market! Visit more restaurants! Meet some women!"

 _The Land of Waves?_ Sarada pondered. So this is where this place was. It was strange for her father to have business here. To the best of her knowledge, the Land of Waves didn't even have a hidden village. Maybe they were seeking assistance from Konoha at the moment.

She continued to watch as Sasuke simply closed his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets, letting Miho drag on and point fingers at him the way a mom would lecture their child. "I told you I'm doing what I'm supposed to, obaa-san." The raven-haired man finally replied, giving in to the the grandma's gimmick.

"You're too busy of a ninja! Though everyone is very appreciate of your efforts, Sasuke-san, please enjoy yourself more!"

He must be staying here for the time being after the war, for some reason. Miho turned to look at her new company, suddenly remembering that she was just standing there awkwardly.

"Sorry, Sarada-chan. You look rather drenched, come sit by the fire! I'm just about to prepare dinner, but I'm missing a few things so I'm going to head out and grab some more stuff." Miho scattered herself over to the nearby chair beside the door, which had a shopping basket lined with a cloth. Sasuke simply gave a nod and turned himself around towards the living room.

"Thank you, Miho-san. Be safe!" Sarada exclaimed as she reached to open the door for her on her way out.

"Thanks, Sarada-chan." Miho stepped out the door, but peered back inside and cupped her mouth with one of her hands. "Goodbye Sasuke-san!" Although she heard no reply, she knew he heard him and was acknowledging it.

Suddenly, to Sarada's surprise, Miho stared back at her and her expression completely changed from happy-go-lucky to immediately very serious with furrowed eyebrows. " _Get him out of here_."

"Hah!?" Sarada exclaimed loudly, but was quickly shushed down by the elderly woman.

"It's true that I'm very grateful to Sasuke-san keeping our village safe," She started. "I offered him my place to stay while he's here in the Land of Waves. But he HAS to go! Did you know that ever since the war ended, he hasn't been back at this own village for almost three years? _Three years_! Konoha's own hero!"

She shouldn't really be surprised, although she was. Sarada knew her father liked to travel a lot; he took on missions in any form when it comes to doing something for his village. But she had no idea there was such a long time gap between when the war ended and him being.. home. She figured this was why Itachi told her to ask her father about this herself.

"You're from the leaf village, aren't you?" Miho glanced over at the shiny leaf headband on Sarada's forehead. "Take him back with you! I'll be damned if there aren't people waiting for him back at home. That boy should be back where his loved ones are!"

 _Mom._ The Uchiha heiress narrowed her eyes at the thought of her mother, her grief-stricken face that she probably wore every single night when no one was around. Sarada pondered at Miho's request. If she were to convince him to go back home, they definitely wouldn't be going _together_. But it was still worth the shot. After all, she herself was the proof that he eventually went back, right?

"I-I'll see what I can do."

She watched as the tiny woman gave a nod and walked off into the distance. After waving her off, she made her way back into the tiny house. Looking over to her left, she saw as Sasuke lounged on the side of the crackling fire, drying himself off from the wetness of the weather. Taking a deep breath, she took a spot near him, but not quite next to him.

The two of them sat in familiar silence once again, but this time, Sarada had an excuse to talk. "You're from Konoha as well?"

He had assumed Miho told her. She's always had a big mouth. "I haven't been back for awhile.. and I assume you're going to ask me when I'm planning to go back." He's been getting that a lot, and not just from the chatty grandma he stayed with.

"W-Well" Sarada stuttered, being caught off guard. "I'm sure you have your reasons."

"I don't know when I'm going to go back. I'm beginning to think I shouldn't be returning, after all."

"Why not? You're a hero that saved everybody during the war. You deserve to be back where you belong."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Is that what they call me? A hero?"

"Well, yeah, that's what you become when you basically saved the entire Shinobi nation from being nonexistent."

"Then, did you know I tried to kill them, too?"

Sarada turned silent. She took it as a rhetorical question, but was unsure because he was staring at her as if he was expecting an answer. Finally he gave up, and adopted an expression of defeat. She assumed this was the other half of the grey area where she was unsure of her father's side of things.

"I tried to kill them. My best friends." Sasuke began to play images of the blonde, the pink-haired girl, and all of the comrades he had left behind. "Everyone. That doesn't sound all that heroic to me, no matter how many good deeds I do to redeem what I've costed the village. _That's_ why I'm hesitant on going back."

The Uchiha heiress didn't take this as a shock. After all, she already knew about the dark past of the Uchiha. She even experienced it first-hand when her own father laid his hands on her throat. It became all the more clear as to why he was in the land of waves. He wasn't going around doing volunteer charity-work because he was just that of a kind, philanderous soul. No, Uchiha Sasuke was on a journey of redemption to try and make up for all destruction he sent towards the people he loved.

"You betrayed your village and you hurt a lot of people. With every good deed you do from now on, you'll be reminded of why you never bothered to do it before." Sasuke barely flinched at her words, knowing it all too well. "But you _have_ done good for yourself, for everybody. There aren't people waiting for you back at home for nothing. You created those bonds with them, those who risked almost their entire life so far trying to save you. And guess what? They're probably waiting for you everyday to come back home despite your sins, because that's what having bonds do to people. They make them love."

The two of them sat for a moment as Sasuke let the stranger's words sink into him. Suddenly, Sarada felt like she might have blabbered too much on a matter that according to him, didn't concern her, especially when she was unsure of the details. However, it was inevitable that a pink-haired girl managed to pop up in his mind once again. More specifically, he remembered something that was sent to him a few days back, but never had the heart to crack open.

Instead of giving the Uchiha heiress some kind of reaction, he reached over behind him to the small side table beside Miho-san's wooden rocking chair. Sarada watched as he grasped a small envelope back into his hands, holding it with such delicacy and staring at it as if it held the deepest darkest secrets of the world.

"What's that?"

"I don't know. It's from my teammate." The Uchiha heiress instinctively scooted over towards her father, earning no reaction of protest as she glanced beside his shoulder at the dirt-ridden envelope. To her surprise, she recognized the printing on the front and the detailed texture of the paper. She had seen her mother write to her father countless times whenever he was away from home, some of in which she would hand-deliver the mail to the Hokage himself to send via special forces.

This was definitely from her mother. Sasuke, too, knew it was from the pink-haired girl waiting for him back at Konoha. He knew, but he couldn't bring himself to even touch something that she had also touched. He remembered all too well the countless times she confessed her love to him, to try and make him stay, and the many times where he turned his back on her.

A wave of urgency rushed over the Uchiha heiress as she darted her head towards Sasuke, annoyed with his hesitancy. "Open it."

The raven-haired man took surprise at the sudden intensity of Sarada's gaze, which dared him to do otherwise. Usually, he wouldn't take this from a complete stranger, but he accepted this as an excuse to finally uncover what he had been hiding from himself for the past few days. Slowly but surely, he nicked open the letter's seal and slid out a piece of not-so-white paper that looked like it had been blotted a hundred times by a pen.

Almost immediately, Sasuke sent an alarming glare towards his future daughter, which she took as a sign of leaving him with the privacy of the letter. In response, she quickly darted her gaze away and focused on the blazing fire beside them.

He took awhile with its contents. Her eyes constantly travelled back towards her father, noting how serious he looked while carefully scanning the words. He really has been through a lot, more than she knew. He deserved to be back where he belonged. There wasn't much for her to change in this time-point anyway, after all, he did end up going back to Konoha. Where else could her parents have had se-

 _Gross!_ Sarada exclaimed in her head, her face making an expression out of disgust. Sasuke seemed to notice this. He was raising an eyebrow at the strange gestures she was making while staring at the fireplace. He assumed she must've gotten bored of waiting and had to entertain herself somehow.

"I'm finished." He said, folding the letter back in place while the Uchiha heiress darted her curious attention back to him. "What was it? Was it from your girlfriend?"

"Something like that."

Sarada beamed. "See? I told you people don't forget bonds easily. Especially when it comes to people they love."

"I don't understand her." He pondered way too many times about how someone could still say they loved him, even after everything he's done. And especially how he almost killed her, right then and there.

"You don't have to." Sarada interrupted, earning back her father's attention from his dazed out expression. "All you need to do is understand yourself." She knew what kind of love her mother had to offer him, and by the looks of it, he knew as well.

"When did you fall in love with her?"

"Somewhere along the way."

"Oh, come on! There has to be a story." Despite what came out of her mouth, she figured that the history between her mother and father were probably a lot more extensive than she'd thought. It'd take a lot more than one evening to cover it all.

"When I left Konoha almost a decade ago," He started, "She made me question for a mere second whether I really should have left or not. That's when I knew I probably had feelings for her."

After earning no response, he looked over at Sarada, who had just been staring at him with her mouth hung half-open. She swore she could have seen a small blush tinge her father's cheeks as he looked away, which only made her chuckle. Really, she absolutely adored the moments where he'd show his tender love towards her mother. For a ninja as strong and as noble as he is, it really is something to be amused about.

"So if you _do,_ " Sarada spoke, emphasizing the last word, ".. Go back, that is. Are you going to be with her?"

"If I _do,_ " Sasuke repeated, copying her tone. ".. Then we'll see about it."

The Uchiha heiress felt a slight disappointment, unsatisfied with her father's resolve. She kept her gaze on him as he soon began to stand himself up from his sitting position, stretching his neck from side to side to release the tension in his muscles. "However, I do have plans to restore my clan." He said, giving her a faint, subtle smile that was enough to make her emotions stir again.

They let the sound of the rain take over the silence of the room, in accompaniment of a large wave of thunder growling in the sky. But it didn't make them flinch, not in the slightest bit. Sasuke turned his head towards the window, observing the loud noise. "The storm is starting again."

"I hope Miho-san is okay.."

"Believe it or not, that woman is almost invincible." Sasuke nearly shuddered at the thought of Miho-san being literally, unbreakable. Though she appeared as almost 90 years old, she acted like she was 15. It was uncanny. Sarada watched as her father started towards the kitchen, not looking back at her as he paused at the doorway. "Stay here for the night until the rain settles."

* * *

The next morning, Sarada woke up from an intense burning sensation on her wrist. She realized she had been groaning with pain in her sleep, and it wasn't until she laid awake that she realized the bracelet had been nipping at her skin like before. On top of that, she hadn't noticed how tired she was for some reason, especially with everything going on in the time-points.

She figured it was time for her to go, and something inside her gut told her that this was the last place she'd be before she landed back at home.

 _I'll have to give proper goodbyes to Miho-san and Dad._ She thought about the amazing meal Miho had prepared for the three of them last night, and the look of misery on her father's face when she kept stuffing more food on his plate even though he couldn't shove anything down anymore.

After assembling her things and putting her clothes on, she made her way into the kitchen, admiring the bright rays of light that shone from the windowsill of the sink where the elderly woman stood. She was busy washing a few dishes when she heard footsteps creeping up from behind her, causing her to turn around and greet Sarada with a smile. "Sarada-chan! Oh, I hope you had a good sleep last night. We have plenty of leftovers from yesterday, please have some for breakfast if you'd like!"

"Miho-san.." The Uchiha heiress returned her smile, but grasped at her wrist to cover her torn skin. "Thank you for everything, really. Your food was amazing, and I'd definitely come back to visit if I could.. but it's time for me to get back to Konoha."

A look of disappointment spread across Miho's face, but she soon replaced it again with her sweet smile that made her eyes wrinkle. "Oh, geez. I was hoping you'd stay a bit longer, Sarada-chan. But I suppose you have things to do as well."

Immediately, Sarada bursted herself over to the elderly woman, surprising her with a hug on the side that made her drop the utensils she had been washing into the sink.

"Take care, Miho-san." She said, burying her face into her soft clothes. Miho gave a long, amused chuckle at Sarada's sudden expression of emotion. "You too, Sarada-chan. Really, though! If I knew you were leaving sooner, I would've told Sasuke-san to wait for you!"

Immediately, the Uchiha heiress froze and quickly shot her head up to look at the elderly woman. "What?"

"We didn't want to wake you while you were sleeping.. But Sasuke-san decided to go home today."

"When?"

"Erm.. He left around 20 minutes ago perhaps?"

That was enough time. She had nearly around 20 minutes to find him to bid proper goodbye before the bracelet would warn her again. In an instant, she gave one last goodbye to the elderly woman and the next thing she knew, her feet took her racing out the door. She paid little attention to her surroundings, though the sky took on a beautiful vivid blue color without a single cloud in sight, and the leaves swayed back and forth from the tiny breeze enveloping the early morning air.

As she ran further, she thought about the fact that her own journey was about to end as well. Never in her wildest imagination would she have thought that one trip to an old storage room could lead her to an adventure of this extent, where she would find herself uncovering exactly what she had been looking for. From meeting her Genin parents to Itachi, she had absolutely no regrets.

When she returned back to her own Konoha, the first thing she was going to do was see her parents. Then she was going to take a nice, warm bath in the comfort of her own house and possibly look for Boruto, and then-

Suddenly, she caught sight of a raven-haired man walking in the distance, his dark cape swaying side to side in the same rhythm as the leaves around them. She paused in her tracks, taking steady breaths to regain her composure. Just then, she opened her mouth to yell, but no words came out of her grinning expression.

She simply stood, watching her fathers back as he took every single step with great accuracy and pride. He looked strong and confident, and she didn't need to see his face for confirmation. "SASUKE!" She shouted, finally, allowing her voice to echo through the wind. "TELL EVERYBODY I SAY HELLO, OKAY?!"

The raven-haired man stopped in his tracks at the sudden voice reaching his ears, but he didn't turn around to meet it's owner. Instead, he couldn't resist the grin displaying itself on the corners of his mouth, a smile that he had only showed to the pink-haired girl waiting for him back at home. _Thank you, Sarada._

The Uchiha heiress watched as her father began walking again, but this time slowly raised a hand in the air as he waved her goodbye, giving her reassurance that she was heard. As his figure gradually became smaller and then disappeared in the distance, she couldn't help but feel a warm sensation inside her chest.

Forget the crazy, blood-driven person she met earlier on. _This_ was the father she knew and loved.

It wasn't long before the warm feeling travelled to her wrist, but she knew that this wasn't a friendly one. She looked down at her arm, but to her surprise, her skin hadn't been nearly as torn as it was earlier. In fact, it was a lot better than before.

Suddenly, she let out a little gasp as she started to feel a new sensation taking over her body, covering her all over. It wasn't the wind from the outside, neither the one that usually brought her back to the white space. Instead, she found that she was glowing. Every edge of her was radiating with a bright yellow light, and never throughout her entire journey had she felt more revitalized. Sarada smiled, knowing all too well what was happening.

"Race you back home, dad."


	15. Interlude: Letters To You

_*Kami = God._

* * *

 _"Hello Sasuke-kun."_

 _Sakura sat at her desk in the middle of the night, her back leaning against the chair and her pen firmly pressed onto the blank sheet in front of her. The ink was starting to create a pool underneath it's tip due to a loss for words that accurately described her feelings._

 _Years have passed by since Sasuke left for his journey, and she had been waiting every single day anticipating his return. Despite that, she realized she had no idea what to talk to him about when he did come back. It's funny how in the hands of time, relationships that began as a childhood crush could mature into something so much more._

 _Taking one last sigh and sitting up straight, the pink-haired girl started to move her pen._

 _"How have you been? It's been quite awhile since the last time I've seen your face. Naruto was nagging at me to send something to you along with him, I'm sure he's already updated you on the matters of the village._

 _The other day, while I was helping out at the hospital, I met a young boy who came in as a patient and had been staying at the hospital for quite some time. I was in charge of observing him for the next few weeks to make sure he recovered properly. He kind of reminded me of you, Sasuke-kun._

 _I could tell he was going down a dark path in his life. He lost someone precious to him, and as a result, he left his village and severed the bonds with his loved ones. I spent some time talking to him, to try and save his thoughts, but I could tell he had already fallen. But as much as he would deny it, I saw hints of worry whenever I brought up the people back at his village. I told him that deep inside, since he cared about the friends who loved him and needed him, fate will definitely bring him back home one day. And that's when he looked at me with the most sullen eyes I've ever seen when he asked me the following question._

 _If fate exists, then why does Kami take away things that are meant to be?_

 _And that's what got me thinking. A lot of people come and go, live or die in the ninja world. Perhaps the end of team 7 was inevitable. The countless times Naruto and I had ran into you back then- be it fate or coincidence, there was only one thing that ran across my mind. Could our bond ever go back to the way it was?_ _Was everything between us really severed?_

 _That's when I knew; we had to bring you back no matter what. Even if the entire nation had given up on you, even if we were promised a thousand years of peace in return for your dead body, I would fight just to make sure you were back where you belonged. Why should I care about someone who had already thrown their comrades away? Why try changing someone when they're already gone?_

 _It's easy. Because you were worth it._

 _I don't think I'm alone when I say that the bond between Team 7 may be stronger than Kami itself. No matter how many times anybody tries to take that away, rivers divided will once meet again in the ocean._

 _Even though I know it's going to be hard erasing all the dark memories clouding your thoughts,_ _I support your journey, and I hope you end on good terms with yourself._ _I know you're apologetic about hurting me throughout the past years, but losing you didn't make me weaker, Sasuke-kun. Losing you was how I became myself today._ _That's why I want to revisit every dark spot in your life with you and break it all down if I have to._

 _Clearly, I'm still upset that you have to fight these feelings alone. You're probably feeling all kinds of guilt while you're away from the village. But the Sasuke-kun we know is different from the one everybody else knows. He isn't a villain, he isn't lost in total oblivion._ _Although there's still going to be people who just can't see your good intentions; Naruto, Kakashi and I are here waiting for you as well as others who consider you as a hero._ _I still remember your childhood dream of becoming apart of the Konoha Police Force, having the chance to fight against whatever came our way. I've realized it's no different than the you right now._

 _Which is why I have to say, I hope you know how proud I am for what you're doing for Konoha, even if it means protecting us from the shadows."_

 _Sakura paused, exhibiting a warm smile as she finished the last of her message._

 _"I guess in a way, your dream finally came true, right?"_


	16. Recapitulation

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: After expecting to go home but ending up landing in yet another time-point, Sarada meets her father who was on the edge of returning back to Konoha from his journey of redemption. The two of them spend some time together and he cracks open a letter from Sakura, which in the end, prompted him to return home along with the time-travelling Uchiha.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, everyone! I've been pretty caught up in things and not to mention having huge writer's block. However, it's almost the end! This chapter was intended to be the last, but then it got too lengthy so I decided to split it up into two. So, this will be the second last chapter!

Enjoy!

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

.

.

 **Journey Back In Time**

Recapitulation

.

.

Tonkotsu..

Miso..

Maybe some Teppanyaki?

Going through the time-space didn't mean that she could disregard the clear rumbling of her stomach. Maybe she should have stayed for breakfast at Miho Obaa-chan's house after all. Besides, it sure seemed like the time-space was taking its sweet time to bring her back where she belonged.

Along with her undeniable hunger, she felt a queasy feeling in her stomach whenever she thought about the fact that she was getting closer and closer to having a much needed conversation with her father. Though she had complete faith in him, she couldn't help but be afraid of receiving something else other than what she had been told.

Even so, she wasn't returning with the same mindset that she had when she first embarked on her journey. It was a lot to take in, and it was going to take time to absorb the fact that after several years, she finally knew the truth about everything that's happened to her family.

In the next second, she felt a tingling sensation plague her limbs, and she kept her eyes tightly shut once the time-space began to distort more rapidly than before. A large force soon overtook the tingling feeling, and she let out a loud whimper as gravity seemed to have finally taken effect.

Her body fell, deeper and faster with every waking moment. Oh holy rules of space, please be good to he-

 **SMACK.**

Sarada grunted as she rolled her eyes in their sockets, her head spinning from the fall. After awhile, she slowly opens one of them to take in the clear blue sky from above.

She layed there for a few seconds, observing the tiny dandelions that danced in and out of her sight. Finally, she hoisted herself up from the hard ground, rubbing her bottom in pain. Nevermind about thinking that the time-space was starting to go soft on her, it was completely unmerciful. She'd have to go find those ninja-weapons people and give them a very colorful review on their little "upgrade".

Before she could go on and devise a well-thought out scheme to do so, her eyes rested on the scene around her. All of her previous thoughts were suddenly abandoned, replaced by a delightful excitement in her chest when she saw that she was standing in the middle of a familiar area.

She didn't have to check it twice to make sure that she hadn't suddenly dropped into another time-point. She knew by every scent in the air and the distinguished marks on the old wooden swing that she was at the playground she and Boruto would always meet at whenever they had burning news to share.

"I'm finally home." Sarada celebrated with joy, the corner of her lips creating a large silly grin on her face.

"Sarada, is that you!?"

The Uchiha heiress froze at the sound of her name being called by a voice that she undeniably recognized. As if on cue, she swung her body around to see a blonde boy with widened blue eyes and an opened mouth gaping at the sight of his friend. In a split second, he darted his way closer to the Uchiha, refusing to spare her the chance of forming words as he swung his arms in the air and harshly crashed his palms down onto her shoulders.

"Boruto!-"

"YOU'RE SO UNFAIR! YOU WENT ON SOME KIND OF CRAZY ADVENTURE WITHOUT ME, DIDN'T YOU!?"

Sarada blinked, widening her eyes at her best friend's loud outburst only a few inches away from her face. Boruto continued to stare at her with a strong gaze, until finally, the Uchiha heiress became evidently annoyed.

Suddenly, a large fist made its way towards the cheek of the Hokage's son, earning a loud grunt and sending him flying to the side and hitting a tree before sinking down onto the grass. Sarada displayed a pissed-off expression, still clutching her fingers. "Don't interrupt me while I'm greeting you, Bakaruto!"

"Hey!" The blonde jolted himself back up to his feet, holding his cheek that had become puffed up from the strength of her not-so-friendly greeting. "It's your fault for not letting me in on such a thing!"

"Heh.." Sarada smirked confidently. "It's too bad that you probably couldn't have gone with me anyways."

Her eyebrows furrowed upon hearing a few curse words being muttered under Boruto's breath. However, it quickly dissipated along with her annoyance. There was nothing she missed more than being home, even if it means coming back to an idiot of a best friend like him.

"But, Sarada," He started again, in a surprisingly serious manner this time. He had her full attention. "I overheard my dad talking about what happened.. Really though, is everything okay?"

Sarada took a few moments to take in the depth of his question. A small tinge of a blush appeared on the Uchiha's cheeks at the possibility that Boruto could have been worried for her. However, her moment of sentiment quickly disappeared.

No, it was not okay.

She almost died,

Her father was living a life of emotional turmoil,

Her mother felt pain every single night she tried to sleep,

Her entire clan was massacred by a single person that ended up being her uncle,

And now she's no longer able to see him ever again.

He waited for her reply in silence, taking the next few minutes to search her gaze for some kind of hint, though he ended up with nothing. Finally, Sarada began to walk over to her friend.

She didn't respond, but instead paused within a few feet from him and returned his searching gaze. Suddenly, she lifted a finger in the air, harshly pointing it at the now confused blonde with insistence.

Boruto raised an eyebrow. "What're you-"

"Just remember you're the one who promised it, okay!"

The two of them stood in silence again, a still-confused look inhabiting the blonde's face. Eventually, she gave in and sighed, resting her arm down. "You said that you'd be my right-hand man when I become Hokage. That was real, right?"

At this, Boruto blinked. Once, then twice. He opened his mouth to speak, to say something completely unintelligible and arrogant, but was interrupted when his eyes rested on the fist his friend had been making at her side. He noted the way it trembled. In fear, in anger, in regret, in determination.. Whatever it was, he didn't know for sure.

So instead, he let his expression become soft as he said his next words. "Yeah, it was real."

An evident smile began to tug at the corners of the Uchiha's mouth. Soon, she found herself unable to control the tears that began to well up in her eyes.

Immediately, Boruto jumped at the sudden shift of mood. "H-Hey! Don't you dare go crying on me, or I'll run away!"

At this, the tears on the Uchiha quickly disappeared as she blinked and furrowed her brows in anger. "Is this how you treat a girl!? So lame, Boruto!"

"Eh..." The blonde shoved his hands in his pockets as-a-matter-of-factly. "But, it's good that you made it back in one piece." His expression slowly turned mischievous. Sarada leaned back a little as he took a few steps closer to her, leaning into her face with a playful grin. "Still, you're gonna have to tell me all about it later.. I bet my old man was a complete dud back then, right!?"

Sarada reminisced on the carefree nature of her Uncle Naruto when she had encountered him in her very first time-point. She recalled their explicitly horrible excuse for a "plan" when they tried to ambush Kakashi to reveal what was under his iconic mask.

The Uchiha heiress let out a tiny chuckle. "He seemed to be a total loser, that's for sure."

"I knew it, it's confirmed then." Boruto placed his hands on his sides in triumph. "I'll have to ask him about it myself when I get home. My old man may be the Hokage but he's still the number one loser to me! After all, in this day and age, there's nobody as cool as me."

"You really are more similar to him than you'd like to think." Sarada muttered under her breath, earning a loud outburst from the blonde as he seemed to have heard her loud and clear. The two of them exchanged insults for the next few minutes, something along the lines of whether or not Boruto could actually be considered a hotshot in their generation.

"Whatever, Sarada." Boruto exclaimed, shutting down the last of their squabble. Sarada watched as he raised a hand up in surrender and turned around in the opposite direction. "I'll argue with you later when Mitsuki is somewhere to be found, and at that time, you better spill whatever's gone on with you."

"Wait, you're leaving right now?" Sarada felt the pace of her heart beginning to quicken.

"Yup. You better go home too, your parents have been worried."

.. Which is exactly the reason why she didn't want to return to her house just yet. Sakura was bound to make a fuss over it, and she needed some time to mentally prepare herself for her father.

She watched as her friend started to walk away, casually pushing his hands back into his pockets. Suddenly, Sarada remembered the unwavering words of her Uncle.

 _"My kid is going to live in a world much better than this. And I'm going to make it for not just him, but all of Konoha's people."_

"Boruto," She started, raising her voice a little to ensure she was audible despite the growing distance. "We all know Uncle Naruto is a complete klutz.. But he's really cool, too! I.. I actually think if anybody knows the true meaning of being a Shinobi, it would be him, you know?"

At this, the blonde's walk began to slow down, until he came to a complete stop. She watched as he shifted his head to the side, sending her a huge grin from the corner of his eyes. "Of course I know that."

Sarada smiled at her friends comment. As Boruto waved her off once last time before he disappeared into the distance, she couldn't help but feel how much he has changed compared to before, part of it including coming to terms with his dad.

She spent the next few seconds continuing to stand in the same spot, letting the subtle spring air blow against her.

It was probably her turn, too.

* * *

The pink-haired girl worked her hands monotonously, though she made sure every single piece of vegetable she cut was neat and precise in consistent size. Sasuke would be home in time for dinner today, though it was awfully lonely in the house with her daughter gone as well.

She wondered how Sarada had been coping, and whether or not everything was beginning to take a toll on her head. Her heart sank at the thought of being unable to help her daughter find solace in her feelings. Instead, she had spent years hiding the truth from her whenever she asked.

"Sarada, if only you were here now, I'd-"

Suddenly, she froze her moving hands and widened her eyes, feeling the chakra of a familiar figure approach the doorway. Instinctively, she dropped the knife from her hands onto the cutting board underneath.

 _Sarada?_ She thought, feeling her heart beat faster in anticipation. For some reason, it was lingering back and forth, fluctuating between weak and strong. It then came to her realization.. _Is she trying to mask her chakra?_

The expression on the pink-haired girl's face immediately went from alert to almost annoyed. "Oh Sarada, you are so done if you think you can get away with hiding like that." She whispered to herself in an irritated tone. After a few more seconds of constant lingering, the Uchiha matriarch gave herself a graceful smile with underlying anger before picking the knife back up into her hands.

Meanwhile, at the door, the Uchiha heiress attempted her most light-tipped, most stealthiest walk as she approached the doorway of the house that she had missed so much over the past few days.

 _Mom's definitely home,_ she thought to herself, narrowing her eyes at the wooden frame that acted as a barrier between her and the person she was trying to avoid. _She's probably making food or something.._ _Dammit, but she's not going to give me even a second to breathe after she sees me._

Sarada closed her eyes, furrowing her eyebrows while she erased all thoughts from her head. She took the next few seconds to concentrate solely on her chakra presence, which unintentionally began to waver as soon as she became flustered over her anxiety. After giving one last sigh and mental pep-talk, she reached for the doorknob.

Slowly and cautiously, The Uchiha heiress made a small crack between the door and the inside, peering through with her large obsidian orbs and scanning her living room that was visible from the entrance. Her gaze moved over to the sliding doorway towards the kitchen, which was only half-way closed. Through it, she saw the familiar back of her mother, confident and strong just like how she knew it.

After taking a large gulp to get rid of the lump in her throat, Sarada began to move once more. This time, she slowly moved the door more open, careful not to make any noise. She watched her mother's back carefully, ready to jump if she noticed her presence in the slightest.

Her feet continued to tiptoe carefully, and she kept her eyes on the hallway next to the kitchen that lead to her bedroom. She shifted further and further into the house, glancing back every once in awhile at her busy mother. Just a few more steps and-

"Welcome home, Sarada."

 _Shit!_ Immediately, the Uchiha heiress froze in her tracks, allowing a single sweat to drop from the side of her forehead. Letting the unexpected greeting from her mother disappear into the air, she held herself still for a good five seconds.

That is, before she sprinted and charged herself back towards the door. Her feet sent her flying as she mustered up all her strength to escape, desperate to save herself from Sakura's unknown terror.

However, just as she had approached the door, she felt an overwhelming amount of chakra rush up from behind her, moving too fast for her to even process the fact that her mother had grabbed her by the shoulders and twisted her around, stopping her in her tracks.

"Mom!" Sarada yelped, forcing her eyelids shut at the sudden strength. However, just as she had been preparing herself for a loud outburst, she felt the hands on her shoulders leave as a pair of arms wrapped around her in an overwhelming hug.

"Sarada, you're okay." Sakura whispered, burying her face into the dark strands of her hair. "I'm sorry! I'm so relieved you're back safely. Your father and I didn't mean to hurt you this way, please-

"Mom!," The Uchiha heiress interrupted, pushing herself away from her mother's grasp so she could clearly see her face. After taking a few seconds to search her gaze, she grinned tearfully. "I'm home, and it's fine."

At this, the look on Sakura's face slowly relaxed, the inner corners of her mouth returning her daughters smile.

"Dad.. He isn't back yet, is he?" Sarada questioned, though it was more of a statement.

The pink-haired girl gave a light shake of her head. "He should be back soon. He'll be really glad to know you're back."

"I see.." Sarada faded out. Her mother watched her with a concerned expression.

"But, Sarada.."

"-I have a few things to ask him." The Uchiha heiress interrupted, adopting a firm tone in her voice. "Can we talk about the complicated things when he's here? I'm just really hungry right now."

Sakura continued to search her daughter's gaze, though after awhile, she gave a tiny grin and sighed in defeat. "Okay, honey."

The Uchiha heiress returned her smile, then took a moment to look at her surroundings. The familiar scent of her home and the same old annoying ticking of the rusty clock on the living room wall served as a confirmation of the fact that she was back at last. Her thoughts floated towards her last time-point, and she wondered if the past Sasuke had already made it back home as well.

In amidst of thought, her black orbs suddenly found themselves on the attention of the kitchen counter from afar, though she could easily make out the contents resting on top. "You're making onigiri!?"

Sakura let a sweat drop roll down the side of her forehead at the sudden shine in her daughter's eyes. "Thought it'd make a nice snack for when your father comes home.. Would you like to help me?"

Sarada responded with a large grin. "Of course I do!"

* * *

"It was _his_ plan, I'll have you know!"

Sakura rolled her eyes in dismay as she continued. "I told that stupid idiot that it wouldn't work. Naruto never likes to think properly before taking action! We've tried so many times before, and Kakashi didn't even blink an eye! How ridiculous is that?"

Sarada chuckled at her mother's fiery attitude towards her old teammate, her annoyance clearly showing in the way she harshly cut the vegetables in her hand.

"But you guys seemed really happy, mom." The Uchiha heiress grinned as she kneaded the rice into a nice triangle, looking up at her mother for a response.

Sakura let out a sigh before resuming. "That's how it was with us. I guess it was a constant struggle yet blessing at the same time."

"Yeah mom," Sarada suddenly let a sly grin take her face. ".. You even told me that it was your dream to marry Sasuke Uchiha one day!"

"I said that to you, Sarada!?" The pink-haired girl nearly dropped her knife as her face turned explicitly red. Sarada smirked in amusement. "W-What else did I mention?"

"Um.. It was really obvious that you were protective of dad." Sarada continued, "You basically declared war with me when you thought I was there to steal him away. So embarrassing."

At this, Sakura silently cursed at herself for showing her daughter a side of her that she wished she could've redone. Sarada bursted into laughter, followed by more remarks from her mother.

Her laughter eventually faded out as she remembered more of what she had seen. The night where she had seen her mother cry herself to sleep, the part where her father had an unwavering intent to get rid of her once and for all. She couldn't imagine the pain she must have felt.

"But, you've seen it, right?"

The Uchiha heiress paused her thoughts, surprised when it seemed like her mother had been reading them. From the look in her eyes, she knew it was the same as what she had looked like back when they embarked on the Kazekage rescue mission.

"How did you ever live through it, mom?" Sarada whispered in question, searching her mother's blank face.

"I tried to stop him, you know?" The pink-haired girl started. "I attempted to do exactly what he tried to do to me, thinking that it would put an end to all this pain once and for all. Of course, that was just naive thinking."

She continued. ".. I'm not going to pass off your father's actions as a "mistake", because I know he had every intention to do to me what he wanted to do to anybody that got in his way. A lot of things were going on at that time, Sarada, but there was no way I was going to give up on him because of that. Not while Naruto was still fighting, and not when Konoha was in for ruin."

Sarada listened intently.

"He had his reasons for doing everything. And whether he liked it or not, he needed people who still believed the good in him. Though his darkness wasn't something that I could understand on a deeper level than Naruto could, but I wanted to be there no matter what in case one he day he ever decided to go back to the person we all used to know. He may have hurt us a lot, but in the end, he was still Sasuke-kun." The pink-haired girl grinned at her daughter, who stared at her in awe.

"And besides, a girl never really gets over her first love, right?"

The Uchiha heiress returned her mother's grin. She felt butterflies in her stomach at her mother's words. For the first time since the last, she felt the unconditional bond between her parents that nobody else could understand. "Dad's lucky to have someone like you by his side, mom. I'm sure he's realized it too after reading that letter of yours."

"Letter? What le-" Sakura froze. She widened her eyes at the immediate realization of what she was talking about. "Oh my god, Sarada! You read that letter I sent your dad!?"

Sarada smirked. "Well, no. But even an idiot could guess what you've said in there!"

"SARADA!" The pink-haired girl bursted, earning another loud bout of chuckles from her daughter. Sakura, embarrassed once again, began to rant once more as her daughter failed to cease her laughter.

"If you're talking about that letter.. I still have it somewhere."

Sarada slowly widened her eyes at the sudden interruption of a voice that she knew all too well, her mouth hanging open mid-laughter.

"Anata!" Sakura turned around first to greet her husband, with Sarada still unable to move an inch. "Welcome ba- wait, you do!?"

Finally, the Uchiha heiress shifted herself around and peered at her father, who had just come in through the door. Sakura made her way towards him with an embarrassed look on her face, and the two of them exchanged words as he spoke something along lines of the bold words she had written in the letter.

It wasn't long before he flicked his eyes up towards her, catching her own gaze in surprise. He came back a lot earlier than anticipated, how was she supposed to react?

Suddenly, he started towards her, brushing the pink-haired girl off in the middle of their talk. She gulped as he stopped right in front of her, his expression serious but not explicitly angry.

"Where have you been?"

"Dad!" Sarada broke free of her tension, chastising her father for his sarcasm, though Sasuke's expression did not waver one bit.

"Did you have any trouble coming back?" He started again, this time in a more demanding tone.

The Uchiha heiress shook her head slowly, still at a loss for proper words. She continued to look up at her father's serious expression, and the two of them exchanged a mini staring contest.

Finally, Sasuke closed his eyes, making an expression as if he had been relieved of all pressure. "That's good."

Suddenly, he peered his eyes back open and slowly raised two fingers in the air. Sarada watched as he gently pokes her in the forehead with the gesture she had recently come to cherish its meaning to. Without blinking from the contact, she simply smiled from the warmth that had begun to accumulate in her chest, allowing her to abandon all the anxiety she had felt earlier. From afar, Sakura also grinned and nodded in approval.

In the next second, the Uchiha heiress swore she saw a ghost of a smile rise on the corners of her father's mouth. She didn't have to question it, because she knew.

"Let's take care of that long overdue conversation, then."


	17. The Love of the Uchiha

Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: Sarada returns back to Konoha at last. The first person to greet her is Boruto, and the two of them have a nice little chat before he urges her to return home where her parents are waiting. Sarada attempts to sneak around her mother, but explicitly fails. The two of them talk over making onigiri, until finally, Sasuke comes home to greet his daughter after a long time. Now.. It's time to talk.

A/N: It feels weird that this is the last chapter T_T. Unlike my other stories, I actually didn't know how I'd want this to end, but over time, I think it just managed to unravel itself. Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** Contents of this chapter are controversial, but again is based on my own thoughts and interpretation as well as facts from the series. Do keep that in mind. This is fan _fiction_ , after all.

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

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 **Journey Back In Time**

The Love of the Uchiha

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* * *

The Uchiha patriarch and his daughter walked side-by-side down a path where he would take his usual morning strolls whenever he got the chance. The spring breeze lulled against their skin, making a tiny whooshing sound that made up for the silence embodying the air between them.

Oh, but it wasn't an awkward type of silence. If anything, the two of them simply took the time to enjoy the regained accompaniment of eachothers' presence. Sasuke clutched a medium-sized bag in his hand, its contents containing a few boxes of onigiri that his wife and daughter had prepared earlier on. Sakura figured it would've been better to bring them along. After all, who knows how long they were going to be out for.

Sarada paused in her tracks after noticing that her father had suddenly stopped walking. To her surprise, she looked ahead to see that they were facing an open riverbank, one that seemed awfully similar to the one Itachi took her to, though it wasn't the same.

She watched as the raven-haired man lowered himself down onto the clean-cut grass, using the tree behind him as a backrest. Without prompt, Sarada knelt down on her knees beside him, waiting for him to initiate the start of their conversation.

"Okay." Sasuke eventually says in a neutral tone. "Where do you want to begin?"

Sarada took a moment for herself before setting out on an answer. Now that she had actually met her uncle, part of her couldn't help but notice that the two of them exhibited similar demeanors. However, she had to agree with herself on the fact that Sasuke definitely won the poker face game.

In a few seconds, she let out a sigh and turned to face her father, her eyes sparking in all seriousness. "When did you leave Konoha, and why?"

She stared at her father, searching his overly content face for an answer. She pretty much already knew most of it after hearing Itachi out, but this was something she wanted to personally hear from his own mouth.

"I left the village some time after the Chuunin exams." He started, pausing before he continued, as if he didn't know where to go from there. "I wasn't like everybody else. My sole motivation over my Genin years was to exact revenge on my brother for what he did to the clan, and it was something that required an immense amount of power."

Sarada watched her father with furrowed eyebrows.

".. So I sought out strength from Orochimaru. He was the only person at the time who could ensure my growth, and it didn't matter if he needed me for his own merits. Nothing good was coming out of staying in the Leaf Village, especially not when people around me were getting much stronger than myself." The raven-haired man thought back to his blonde best-friend, remembering all too well the time where they nearly killed eachother on the hospital rooftop.

"I had only one goal in mind. My-"

"Did you love them, Dad?"

Sasuke flicked his orbs to meet the ones of his daughters.

"Mom and Uncle Naruto." She finished, letting the words explicitly run out of her mouth.

He continued his gaze for a few more seconds, until finally, his eyes closed as he understood what she was trying to say.

"That was a foreign word to me, Sarada." He says in a low tone. At this, the Uchiha heiress felt her heart sink. She remembered her father during the first time-point of when he was a Genin. When she asked him if he had any dreams.. He only said he wanted to get stronger. "I'd be lying if I said I loved them. In the beginning, I had no interest in them. Friendship, bonds.. It wasn't necessary. Naruto was loud and stupid, Sakura was a burden. But over time.."

She watched as he slowly began to peer his eyes open. "They just came to be people I found myself wanting to protect. They became important."

The Uchiha heiress widened her eyes at this, and suddenly she couldn't help but smile as she found a bit of relief in her heart.

"Despite that," His tone quickly shifted, "Nothing was on par with my goal. There was no way I'd put the two of them on the same caliber. My hate for Itachi was stronger than my friendship with Team 7."

"You didn't feel anything at all? You had no regrets for leaving Konoha?" Sarada asked with a pained expression.

Sasuke took some time to collect his thoughts, millions of images racing through his head. "I did." He started, "Your mother came to stop me that night. And when I looked at her.. That's when I knew I had created a bond with my comrades that caused my intention to waver. But nevertheless, my decision was absolute. I wasn't going to let secondary emotions hinder my revenge."

"But they fought for you, right?" She urged.

"They did. There were countless times where I'd run into them, with the hopes of being able to bring me back on their part." His eyes became sullen, and she could see the pain and regret in his dark orbs. "But at that point, I had already fallen beyond saving."

That was one thing Sarada couldn't bring herself to wholeheartedly accept. How it was so easy for her father to leave everybody, to leave those he finally wanted to protect.

However, in the end, she understood his reason. To him, there was nothing more important than avenging his family, the people he truly loved the most.

"Under Orochimaru, I was getting stronger and stronger." Sasuke continued. "Until finally, it was enough to pose a threat to Itachi. I ended up forming a team of my own- Hebi, with the objective of locating my brother."

"Hebi?" Sarada questioned.

"You've seen our photo before. The one where you believed Karin was your mother." Sasuke said nonchalantly, earning a widened-eye look from his daughter.

"So she was with you on your revenge?" She asked, a bit shocked at the relation.

"I recruited her into Hebi along with two others. She was also the person who helped deliver you, and gave you your glasses."

As if on cue, the Uchiha heiress touched her red frames in awe. A few years back, she had become aware of the fact that this woman was an acquaintance of her father, in which she once confused as to be her real mother. But she never thought that she could have had a direct connection to her father's rogue activity.

Suddenly, Sarada remembered a specific scene in her head. Back at one of the time-points, she noted a red-haired girl on the ground during her father's attempt to kill her mother and herself. Though she had failed to see her face, there was no doubt that it had to be Karin.

At this, the Uchiha heiress found herself unable to comment further, as she didn't want to remind herself of the gruesome scene that subsequently occurred. Sasuke watched her expression carefully, and finally, she managed to force something out in a whisper. "Continue."

The raven-haired man didn't need to ask to know why she had suddenly fallen silent. He knew.

"There was no going back for me, Sarada." He started with insistence, "I did things for the best of my own interests and for what I thought was necessary in order for my revenge to succeed.."

Sasuke forced the lump down his throat.

"That includes getting rid of anybody who wanted to get in my way."

An uncontrollable shake started to muster in Sarada's hands as she had her palms harshly pressed down onto either of her thighs. She clutched them into fists, biting her lip in an attempt to control her emotions.

"I bore the entire clan's hatred onto myself. As a result, I became so submerged into the darkness that nothing else seemed to have mattered." Sasuke didn't stop. "I know what I did in that time-point, Sarada.. And I'm sorry."

The following moment of silence seemed to have lasted an eternity. Sasuke's words rung in the air, and a pained expression of anguish spread across his face as he watched the tears roll down his daughter's cheeks beyond all her strength of control.

* * *

The sparrows resting on the branches above them chirped in unison, contrary to the sullen atmosphere that seemed to have instantaneously engulfed the two Uchihas below.

"I couldn't even recognize you, dad." Sarada said in almost a whisper.

Sasuke failed to respond, to which she decided to continue.

"I'm sorry, it's just.. It's hard to believe that the you in front of me was once capable of doing something like that." She explained, "I'm not saying I truly believed you were a bad person, dad, it's just.. Everything.. Everything was so unfair for us. I'm angry at what Uncle Itachi had to do, but I think overall he was an amazing person. He loved you more than anyone else. He didn't deserve for things to end this way. In the end, everyone including Konoha and our clan were only thinking of what was best for their own people. So why does it have to end in such a cruel way?"

The raven-haired man winced, feeling his chest ache at seeing his daughter muster all her strength to fend off her tears. "We wanted the world to be at peace too, Sarada. If it meant endless fights and dirty hands, the Uchiha were willing to embrace it. That's how far they were willing to go for their own ideology of world peace."

He looked to her for a reaction, but to his dismay, her pained expression did not waver in the slightest.

"Sarada, if this is too much for you, then-"

"No, I'm okay." The Uchiha heiress wiped off the remaining tears in her eyes with the back of her hand. "I already know so much. I did go back in time, after all. Just continue, please? I want to know what you thought about all of this."

The look she had in her eyes convinced him that she was definitely going to see this through. But of course. She had come such a long way.

"Alright." He continued.

"It wasn't until Itachi and I had our last battle that I found out the truth about why he did what he did. I was skeptical of it at first, that's why I sought out more information from the reincarnated Kage."

Sarada looked at him with intensity, and she watched as her father closed his eyes in thought.

"There was no way I could understand the love he had towards the village. He was caught between two corrupted systems, and if it weren't for Konoha's officials, he wouldn't have had to live the rest of his life as a criminal. The village wasn't something I wanted to protect. Not after everything they did to my family and I. Itachi's sudden confession also managed to greatly waver my decision. So, that's what brought me towards my second resolve.. To destroy the Leaf."

"But Itachi did everything _for_ the village, for _you._ "

"It's not particularly the village that I despised, Sarada. It's who it was ran by." Sasuke continued, asserting a dominant tone in his voice. "The Kage, the way they did things, it's what killed my family. It's also the one thing I had set in my mind to change. Itachi chose the village because he loved it, but I chose to destroy it for what it did to him. I wasn't going to restrain myself to the loyalty of something that destroyed its own people."

"You wanted to create a new world, one that Itachi wanted." Sarada said in confirmation.

"Yeah." Sasuke gave a single nod.

"So then, what made you change your mind?"

"Like you said, Itachi did things for me and for the future of the village. I realized that if I followed through with my actions, it would contradict what he sacrificed his life for. There was no way I'd let my brother die in vain. He carried out the massacre knowing it would inevitably change the way I saw him, but he understood that it had to be done for the village as a whole, not just for what I felt."

At this moment, Sarada felt something different about her father. She could tell it probably took him years to be truly at peace.

"I never understood what Itachi felt because I lacked something that he had, something that was essential to him as he carried out such a heavy task."

"The Will of Fire." Sarada said instantaneously.

Sasuke nodded. "Naruto is the one who made me fully understand the Will of Fire. The reason for my brother's loyalty- his resolve that turned our clan into inevitable turmoil.. I've come to truly see the meaning of it."

"And Uncle Naruto never gave up on you, either."

"Yeah, he didn't." Sasuke managed a smile mixed with happiness and regret. "I may have caused everybody a lot of pain, but it was true that Team 7 meant a lot to me. And as the Hokage's right-hand man, my goal for the rest of my life is to protect Konoha at all costs."

At this, Sarada couldn't help but grin. "And you're doing great at it, dad."

"Good to hear." The raven-haired man said neutrally.

Sasuke stared at the Uchiha heiress during a few seconds of silence, noting the look on her face that gave strong indication of a burning question. "What is it? It's okay to ask me things, you know."

Sarada opened her mouth to speak, though her words lagged behind. "I think Uncle Itachi is probably one of the greatest people I've ever met. But.. Were.. Were you guys happy as kids? Did you have fun together?" She searched her father's eyes for an answer, but continued on. ".. Grandma and grandpa loved you two, right?"

She could feel her fingers trembling as she fidgeted them uncomfortably in her lap. Her father was wary of the uncertainty and anxiety in her voice.

She needed to know whether or not, among all the gruesome events that fell into the Uchiha family, the four of them still managed to be happy together at one point.

Thankfully, in a time before the immense pressure and expectations, Sasuke knew he still cherished the genuine laughter of his mother and father, as well as the brother he looked up to as the most perfect Shinobi in the world.

So, with this in mind, he couldn't help but smile. "We were a happy family."

Sarada gave a benevolent grin at her father's answer. She felt her eyes starting to become wet with tears once more, but she bit her lip to force them back.

To the Uchiha patriarch's surprise, the next thing he knew was that his daughter had thrown her arms around him into a tight hug, her face burying into his chest with her head turned to the side.

The raven-haired man glanced down at the top of his daughter's head, instinctively placing a comforting arm on her back.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know, I just want to hug you right now." She says in a quiet tone, her voice muffling against the sleeve of his arm. "I just wish someone else could've done this to you a long time ago."

"Sarada."

The Uchiha heiress peered back up at her father with the prompt of his arm, curious as to why he suddenly needed her attention. "Yeah?"

"You once asked when I fell in love with your mother."

She blinked and waited for him to continue.

"I couldn't accept her feelings because it hindered my goal. But I knew if anyone were to give me the love I had lacked for almost my entire life, it'd be her. Do you know what I said when I proposed?"

He watched as his daughter gave a light shake of her head.

"Instead of giving her a ring, I told her I wanted her to wear something even more meaningful and important."

"What's that?"

At this moment, Sasuke clutched the back of Sarada's clothing, and she knew. The raven-haired man pulled the corners of his mouth into a grin as he remembered his exact words. _"I want you to wear the Uchiha clan's crest on your back for the rest of your life."_

The Uchiha heiress felt her heart skip a beat, her face turning slightly red as she imagined how happy her mother must've been.

"My point is, there's nothing more important to me than family- always was and always will be. I knew that when I chose your mother to be my wife, and now I have you as well." He declared, "You and I are living proof that the Curse of Hatred is now gone."

Sarada couldn't help the smile that began to tug at her cheeks, which quickly formed into a huge, silly grin. "I love you, dad."

Sasuke responded with a single "Hn", to which she knew he felt the same.

"But, will you and I ever be able to enter the white space again?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "Can we ever go see Uncle Itachi?"

"The scroll is inactive by now. It was meant for a one time use by Madara."

The raven-haired man watched as an overly disappointed look spread across his daughter's face. At this, he let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "But.. I'll take you to our family grave one day."

"I didn't know we had one." Sarada blinked. On second thought, of course she didn't know. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been a need for this entire conversation. "Do you visit it often?"

"From time to time, when I have things to say."

"Okay." Sarada nods in approval of her father's suggestion. "But you know something, dad? I think Uncle Itachi might be cooler than you."

Sasuke scowled.

"Sarada! Sasuke-kun!"

A familiar voice rung out to the two of them from behind. The father-daughter turned themselves towards the owner of the voice who had appeared within the abundance of trees, revealing a bright pink blob of hair.

"Mom?" Sarada watched as the Uchiha matriarch shuffled herself out of the tightly-packed branches, running her fingers through her hair to fix the tousled strands. She walked further up to them, a slightly annoyed expression present on her face.

"Shannaro.."

Sasuke watched his wife as she continued to mutter annoying things under her breath, but then started to speak.

"I told that idiot that you two were talking, but he insisted that I come find you to make sure that everything was alright."

"Uncle Naruto?" Sarada questioned. Somehow, she knew it had to be him by the way her mother complained.

"Yeah," Sakura sighed, placing a defeated hand on her hip. "He said he'd come see you later, Sarada."

 _"She's alright, Naruto."_

 _"She is!?" The blonde bursted at his old teammate, peering through the mountainous stack of papers on his Hokage's desk. "That's a relief."_

 _"Yeah. Sasuke-kun is talking with her right now."_

 _"I see." He said, letting out a sigh and closing his eyes. "It was my fault that she must've had to go through a lot unnecessary pain. As Hokage, I should've stuck with her at all times in that storage room. I knew there were forbidden materials and that anything could have happened."_

 _He looked towards the pink-haired girl once again._

 _"Tell her I'll come see her after, alright?"_

".. But was it really unnecessary, though?"

The Uchiha patriarch and matriarch looked to their daughter, who displayed a very determined expression.

"Even though I've seen hurtful scenes, I feel like everything was necessary in order to fully understand our clan, including you and dad. Besides, not only did I learn our history, but after hearing all of this, it really helped solidify my goal of becoming Hokage." Sarada added, "I mean, I still have a ways to go, and I want to discover the Will of Fire in my own ninja way. And it may be late, but I really do think that having a Uchiha become the most powerful ninja in the village would represent a major milestone in its reconciliation with the Leaf."

The raven-haired man simply closed his eyes and gave a single nod of his head, to which his wife rejoiced with a grin.

"You know what, Sarada." Sakura says, taking a few steps in before crouching down and leaning forward into her daughter for a hug. "We're so proud of you."

Sarada grinned, throwing her arms around her mother in return. The two of them stayed this way for a few seconds, that is, until a loud gurgling noise interrupted the atmosphere which appeared to be coming from the Uchiha heiress's stomach.

The pink-haired girl chuckled because she could feel it against her own body. "Say, I think it's time for lunch now, isn't it? You must be hungry after all that." Sakura pulled herself away from her daughter.

"I am." Sarada blushed. She was completely famished.

Her mother reached towards the bag containing the onigiri they had made together earlier on in the day, pulling it into her lap and fiddling around with its contents.

"Which ones do you guys want? We made all sorts."

Sasuke watched from the corner of his eye as his daughter leaned towards her mother's side, immediately reaching a hand inside the bag and picking out a perfectly-shaped onigiri, the puffiness of the white rice molding into the grip of her fingers.

She turned towards the raven-haired man, holding the item out at him. "Here, dad."

"Thanks." The Uchiha patriarch took it from her hands nonchalantly.

The pink-haired girl grabbed one from the container for herself before giving another one to her daughter. Sarada accepted it with eagerness, delighted that she could finally satisfy her hunger. The three of them exchanged glances at eachother with a smile before returning their gaze towards the wonderful food in their hands.

"Itadakimasu!" Sakura and Sakura bellowed out in unison before going in for their first bite, to which Sasuke subsequently followed.

The next few moments were spent chewing in silence, taking the sweet time to fully appreciate the gloried taste of the rice balls.

"Do you like it, Sarada?" The pink-haired girl turned to her daughter, who seemed to be chewing cautiously with a wandering eye. "I made sure to include all of your favorite ingredients, salmon roe, seaweed, pic-"

Suddenly, a quiet muffling noise embodied the air, one that soon turned into wretched gags.

"Sasuke-kun!?" Sakura placed her food down before instantaneously rushing to her husbands side and placing a hand on his back, rubbing it up and down. Sasuke held his hand on his mouth in an attempt to keep the food from coming out the wrong way.

"What's wrong, dad? Can't handle a little _natto?_ "

The raven-haired man flicked his eyes over towards his daughter, who continued to chew casually without a care in the world. She wore an all-knowing smirk on her face that triggered her father into giving her a sharp, malicious glare. So that's what was going on.

Sakura raised an eyebrow as her eyes travelled towards the onigiri in her husband's hand, and she widened her eyes in surprise. "Natto..?"

It was then that Sarada found herself beginning to release bouts of giggles, to which she raised a hand over her mouth in an attempt to silence herself after receiving another cold stare from the Uchiha patriarch.

"Even Sakura doesn't know I hate natto." Sasuke says in suspicion while still maintaining a cool tone in his speech. "There's only one person.."

At this, the Uchiha heiress turned her head away and continued to muffle her giggle while her parents exchanged knowing glances.

 _"I've heard my brother has become quite the man of few words." Itachi said. "He was very active and talked way more as a kid."_

 _"I can't ever imagine that!" Sarada replied, giving a small chuckle to herself. "Dad? Playful and cheery? He's too serious all the time!"_

 _"I'll tell you a secret, Sarada." The elder Uchiha leaned over to his niece's ear and whispered something under his breath. After hearing it, Sarada widened her eyes in surprise and laughed. "I didn't know that! I'm going to try that next time-"_

"-You don't think Itachi has been teaching her immature things to bully you, right?" Sakura said out loud, confirming her husband's suspicion.

The raven-haired man rolled his tongue around the insides of his mouth, wincing at the foul taste of slimy natto that was still present on his palate. At this, he placed a hand over his face in a defeated face-palm with utter disgust. Honestly, God knows what his brother had been really up to with his daughter.

"I've never seen you make that kind of face before, dad. You looked like a twisted chicken." Sarada retorted, unable to hold back her laughter.

"Hn." Sasuke answered nonchalantly, completely ignorant towards his daughter's antics. However, he did manage to crack a smile at the small gimmick.

The next few minutes were filled with Sarada bursting out unintelligible phrases, something along the lines of her father being a cold rock. To her dismay, the Uchiha patriarch had expertly managed to drown her out while he took his time in choosing an alternate rice ball that suited his tastes. The sound of the rushing waterbank accompanied her blabbering words while Sakura giggled at the back-and-forth drabbling of her husband and daughter.

However, it wasn't until Sarada was speaking mid-sentence that the corner of her eye had detected a weak, familiar presence from afar. In a quick motion, she stood up and withdrew herself from her parent's vicinity. Her feet took a few steps towards the large rocks that acted as a barrier between her and the adjacent water.

She looked wide-eyed towards the other side of the large riverbank, but soon felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she blinked and the scene had changed.

"Sarada?"

Her mother called to her, though the Uchiha heiress kept her eyes forward.

For a mere second, she swore she caught sight of Itachi's smiling face as he appeared to have stood on the other side of the waters.

"Is everything okay?" Sakura continued, furrowing her eyebrows with worry as she stood behind at a short distance.

"Yeah," Sarada whispered in a mellow tone, quickly blinking thrice just to make sure. "I was just dreaming."

She turned her back around to face her parents, who now stood side by side and watched her with intent to try and figure out what she was thinking.

There was no denying that she still felt frustration over the events that happened to her clan.

If the Uchiha's weren't under suspicion, Itachi would have never been cornered.

If Itachi never went through with the massacre, her father could have had a happy childhood.

Likewise, if Sasuke had only decided to spend more time with her at home, maybe they could've had this conversation much earlier. If Sakura didn't try so hard to shield her from something that was completely inevitable, she would've been slightly more prepared to receive everything in one blow.

Just then, she began to shake her head rapidly, forcefully erasing all of the could've been's and should've been's. What happened in the past, already happened.

All that mattered now was that at this moment, she was happy because it genuinely felt like the three of them were a family. That's right. At this rate, her father could go on a million more journeys if he wanted to; her mother could be as annoying and over-protective as she pleased. In the end, this family exhibited nothing but perfection.

The corner of Sarada's eyes crinkled into a smile, one that resonated with the bittersweet feeling inside her chest.

 _After all, no clan loves harder than the Uchiha._

* * *

 _Fin._

* * *

A/N: It's finally over! Thank you to everybody who have been following along T u T. I read somewhere that this was how Sasuke eventually proposed to Sakura (be it canon or not), and I thought it was really cute and couldn't resist putting it in somewhere.

I will now be going through an editing process of this story before I move onto my next series.. If I don't end up getting too lazy about it. However, I'd also like to announce that this chapter will be followed by a short _epilogue_. So don't leave just yet~


	18. Epilogue: The Flame in My Heart

A/N: An epilogue to conclude the entire series. The story is now complete! Again, thank you for all the kind words!

* * *

A cold gust of wind blew across a plateau field within the Leaf, rattling the trees and grass from their still composure.

The girl with the red rimmed glasses cursed under breath as a merciless shiver shot down her entire body. "-So as I was saying," She continued through her chattering teeth, "At this rate, I don't even get the time to sit down and have a nice bowl of ramen. Uncle Naruto keeps telling me how Ichiraku now has a branch shop and their business has been really good. Ah.. I guess that means we won't be seeing much of him lately."

Sarada's lips curled into a benevolent smile. ".. But on the other hand, guess what? The Ninja Weapons Army is currently investigating something called a Jikan Arcana. They're trying to see if they can do a remodelling on it, and if the beta version works out, then.."

Her eyes rested on the rusty plaque planted in the ground at the front of her knees, the bold letters still clear and distinct despite the aged metal.

"-We just might be able to see you again, Uncle Itachi."

The Uchiha heiress paused for a few seconds, letting the memories of her past catch up to her. "It's been quite a long time since I found out the truth about our clan." She started, ".. How have you been doing? I wonder if heaven is still treating you well?"

Another cold gust of wind subsequently embodied the air, filling the dead silence with its sharp whispers. She didn't fight it, but instead let it blow strands of hair against her face.

"Don't worry about us. Mom and dad are doing fine. Dad managed to give me an earful the other day, even though I'm not a little kid anymore." She continued. "Sorry, but I don't think he's going to join you any time soon. Both of my parents are still as invincible as ever."

"Don't you think it's a bit brutal to apologize for your father still being alive?"

Immediately, her eyebrows furrowed at the male voice coming from the side, though she didn't turn to face it. "I didn't mean it that way, idiot. But come to think of it, aren't you going to say anything instead of standing there the entire time?"

Just then, she jolted her gaze to the right, making eye contact with a blonde man who casually leaned against a nearby tree with his arms crossed. He wore an evident expression of discontent on his face.

"Uh, no." Boruto spoke. "Because recently we've come here almost every single day with you saying the same things but with different words. Besides, I've already said everything I wanted during the first few times we've visited. You really should be focusing your business elsewhere.. Seeing as you're probably putting Itachi to sleep right now."

Sarada scowled. "What if he didn't hear them the first time?"

 _Are you kidding me? We've been here for nearly two hours._ Boruto sighed. "Seriously, what kind of a person would I be if I keep letting you run around like this?"

"You know what's weird?" The Uchiha heiress cocked her head to the side in amusement. ".. The fact that you've become such a duty-bound person. I swear, if it were back when you were still a bratty Genin, I'd probably be the one chasing you around."

Boruto shot her another look of dissatisfaction. "You know it's because I care. And don't call me a brat."

"But you were." Sarada chuckled briefly, then paused. "Sorry, I know. Recently, I've just been thinking about the past a lot. If only he were still here.." She glanced at the metal plaque, "It'd be a lot easier for me to talk to him and catch up on everything."

"He's resting well." The blonde boy said, "I'm sure of it. Especially after knowing what kind of a person you've become."

"Yeah? I hope so too."

A peaceful atmosphere waved through the breezy air, one that allowed the two of them to enjoy the following moments in comfortable silence.

"So, who are our troublemakers with today? I didn't get to see them off this morning." Sarada said, breaking the silence with her tone shifting into a more joyful sound.

"Sasuke and Sakura have em today. They somehow managed to age my old man 100 years when he tried to take them out the other day."

At this, she laughed once more. "Things always go awry when Naruto has them. Rest assured, they wouldn't dare misbehave in front of Sasuke." She said, "Funny how back in our days we were so adamant about how our parents were rarely home. Sometimes I feel like we're not any different now."

"Well, it can't be helped." Boruto shifted himself away from the tree, walking his way closer towards her before he then stood at her side, peering his head down to meet her eyes. "Besides, that's not true. If anything, you know how much they love that you're showing the world what it really means to be a Uchiha."

At this, Sarada couldn't fight the smile off her face.

"Did you hear that, Uncle Itachi?" Her attention darted back onto the gravestone. "I'll have you know, I'm doing a hell of a good job at it, too."

She didn't see that Boruto had rolled his eyes at her overly confident remark. But he grinned because he knew it was true.

Just then, he watched as Sarada began to hoist herself up from her knees. She shielded her face from another large gust of wind that broke out, sending the crows flying from the nearby trees.

"Until next time, then." She gave her uncle a single nod before looking back at her partner, who did the same thing before shifting his body towards other direction and beginning his walk.

It wasn't long until Sarada began to follow closely from behind, taking one last look at her uncle before shifting her gaze back up ahead. She continued on in a dauntless stride, her right hand man by her side and her shoulders remaining tall as the cloak of the Fire Nation rippled vigorously against the raw autumn wind.


End file.
